Returning Home
by Dragon with a Shotgun
Summary: Abigale Johnson is lost and alone, or so she thinks. After being mutated into a rodent, she goes into hiding for weeks in fear, surviving on her own until she has an encounter she won't forget. Will her life ever be normal again? Will she be a mutant for the rest of her life?
1. Chapter 1

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Yay! I restarted this! And I actually like this one better, especially since I decided to go for something different. I know I like lizards and all, but I don't want to go for a Mona Lisa look again, so I decided to go squirrel! :D And I'm trying to keep Abby from looking like a Mary-Sue, so if you have any suggestions that could help with that, please let me know!**

**Alone and on Her Own…**

The air was cold and crisp, numbing her lungs as she huddled on her side on the cold carpet. The carpet itself was rough and tangled, a dark, faded blue color. The walls around her were faded blue, pieces of pain peeling off from years of abandonment. The furniture in the room was old as well, the white leather couch worn and torn to the point of falling to pieces, its color faded and dirtied to brown-gray. The recliner was broken already, lying back on the ground with the seat facing up. The book shelves were empty, only two or three old, dusty books lying sprawled on the floor. The curtains on the windows were tattered and were just enough to shield the room from light.

She yawned, her breath raspy as she finally opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her blurry vision. But once the throbbing headache came, she groaned and shook her head. Where was she?

She slowly, groggily, sat up. She moaned as she stretched, scratching at her head as an irritable itch crawled across her head. Then she looked around at her surroundings. How in the hell did she get here? She frowned, but then shrugged as she tried to stand up, but when her legs became wobbly and unstable, like her legs were bent up in a funny way. But she was too tired to pay attention to it, and she decided to crawl over to the old couch and let her body wake up. She sat down on the rather uncomfortable cushion, and instantly found that something wasn't right.

She glanced down at her hands, her legs. Her eyes widened in shock and she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. All at once her body became so itchy and agitated, but she made no attempt to ease the uncomfortable crawling feeling. Her eyes darted around the room before locking onto a broken piece of mirror on the floor. Dread began to clench her, making her chest tighten as she hesitantly reached a trembling hand for the glass shard reflecting her shadow. Her hands carefully grasped it, and she whimpered as she brought it up in front of her face. She gasped softly, and she stared at her image for a long while in silence aside from a shallow breath that exhaled and inhaled into and out of her body.

Her reflection stared right back at her with the same horrified but yet despairing look. Her dark, almost blackened brown eyes stared hopelessly at the mirror, her whiskers twitching when her nose wiggled. The whitish rings around her eyes stood out on her now fuzzy gray face, a bit of brownish red tint to her rounded but also slightly pointed ears that stood on top of her head, already drooping in misery. She put a few clawed fingers on the shiny, reflective surface, touching her reflections face. Her hand was furry as well, her fingers nimble her palms padded. Her whole arm, as was her whole body, was covered in smooth fur. Her bottom lip quivered in an infant-like way as she felt as though she was going to break down in any moment, so before she could, she placed the mirror shard on the old coffee table and stood up, now her legs having gained some strength. She walked over to the broken mirror that the shard had fallen from, and she sobbed quietly when she sat the many broken pieces reflect her once again, as they had for the past three weeks. Her body was no longer the bottle-glass figure that had once been a petit size. She no longer had the beautiful curly blonde hair that all of the girls at school once so lovingly complimented on. She no longer had the beautiful beauty-model face that she once compared to women's in magazines, no longer were her eyes the pretty ocean blue color that her mother had always spoke of as a gift. No longer did she have the blushing tanned cheeks of a human.

Instead, her body was fatter and was covered in disgusting fuzz, gray along her whole body with red etched in, her belly and inner limbs a cottony white. Her arms were skinny at the paws but fluffy at the elbows back to her shoulders. And curled slightly behind her was a long furry extra limb, a fluffy tail that quivered when she felt anxiety hitting her. When she opened her mouth once again, her jaw quavered when she saw the pair of long bucked teeth sticking in front of the rest, only the tips sticking out when she closed her mouth to try to hide them from herself.

She couldn't stand it anymore. She swiftly turned away from the broken mirror and let her tearful eyes wander the room's interior. Something white caught her attention and she quivered her nose as she crept over to it, her tail swishing as she walked on all fours for a single moment before resting on her haunches, picking up the old newspaper in her paws. The image showed a girl with blonde curly hair, standing next to a tall man and a shorter woman. The girl was smiling, hugging her parents' arms. Such a perfect picture, such a happy family.

"_Person Missing: Abigale Johnson, juvenile resident of New York City. Went missing after leaving to go to a party. If anyone sees this girl, call this number-,"_

The rest had been torn. But that was her name… Abigale Johnson. She was that teenager that had gone missing a few weeks back. But that was when she was normal, like everybody else. She held the piece of paper in her paw-like hands, her claws brushing its surface carefully. Back then, it wasn't as perfect as it could have been, but now it seemed like a life she had dreamt of for years. Her parents were divorced, mainly because of financial problems. Her father was a saver, liked to keep enough money in the bank and save it for the right time and place. Her mother was a spender, living for the day and buying things that were sometimes expensive. She could pay for it too, being a doctor who earned a pretty good wage. The two had some arguments, but never fought. So after some thinking, her father decided that because the two were so different, they should part ways. It wasn't like he didn't love her, because he really did, loved her from the bottom of his heart. But he knew that with the kind of lifestyles they each had, they couldn't live the way that was better because all he knew was construction. He couldn't change over to a new, better-paying job because construction was all he knew.

So, because her mother earned a better check than him, they decided that Abigale was to live with her. She and her mother moved to New York City. Hoping that with much more opportunities, her mother wanted to go to the largest city and find the best-paying job she could find to support the two of them, and also if she and Abigale's father remarried. Besides, New York City was full of things to keep them busy and occupied. There would be better schools, more people to meet. She still hadn't been the most popular girl in school, but it was the best place to go to for success.

She sighed, looking to the mother and father in the picture. Where they both looking for her? Of course they were! They had to be… She'd seen on a law enforcement investigation show where the police searched for four whole years trying to find a girl. Her parents would keep looking for her, they would try to find her with everything they had left. Her mom probably called her dad and told him about what happened, and he probably came to New York to help with the investigation. They were probably waiting for a call to come in back at her and her mother's apartment, praying that she would be found and brought back to them.

But that was just the thing. She didn't want to be found. Not when she looked like this… a freak… a giant fluffy rat, squirrel, whatever she was… Her parents would see this ugly outside appearance and reject her, exterminate her like she was a bat stuck in her house's chimney. She could never face them like this, not if it meant that they wouldn't love her anymore. She would be seen as a freak, an alien even! She was scared of what they would say, if they even gave her a chance to explain.

How did this all begin?

Four weeks ago, she was walking back home on her way from her part-time job at the café at around 7:30 PM while it was already dark outside. She had to close the café for her boss since she left a new friend's party early. She was talking to her boyfriend, Derek, on the phone, going through the normal routine of telling him about her complaints of her day at work. Her mother would have been home already, back from work at the Orthodontist office after a long hard day, drinking tea in her chair on the patio of their third-story apartment, waiting for her daughter to come home from work. But then as Abigale was just hanging up the phone, something fell from the sky, crashing on an overhanging windowsill and splattering all this gooey blue liquid on her. At first she had been grossed out, thinking that some kids in the neighborhood dumped it on her as a prank. But when she began to feel itchy and irritated, and her body was tingly all over. It wasn't full on pain that shot through her, but the feeling was tense but yet morphing, almost like when you stretch and you tense up and can't move for a split moment. But her body changed, her mind swirled and became confused. She dropped her backpack, felt her clothes tearing slightly as her body shifted into different shapes.

Then, after it was all over, she looked into her reflection. She didn't see the person she saw in the mirror every morning, but a creature was about the same height as her, covered in fur, and wiggled its nose when she screamed. But then other people began screaming and running away from her, and she begged for help but none came. Scared, she ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she went. She ran on all fours, unaware of her animal-like instincts taking over. Before she knew it she was in an unfamiliar place, in a dark alley downtown it seemed. Not having been in New York for long, she wasn't sure where to go, or who to go to for help seeing as everybody she came across freaked out and ran away. They pointed at her, screaming things about her being a monster or an alien or something. To summarize her situation, she had become lost in the city. She couldn't find the familiar streets that always took her and her home, she couldn't find any stores or restaurants that gave her any sign that she was near her apartment.

She was lost, and had been for the past three weeks. She found this abandoned apartment complex and decided that it was the best place to stay out of the sight of humans, to stay safe. She survived on bags of chips and other snacks that she managed to find that hadn't been opened. Luckily New York City was so populated that people never ran out of food with such high food production and shipping. There were always bags of snacks everywhere.

"Mom… Dad…" she whispered, her voice so raspy that she wondered if she could speak properly at all. She slowly sat down with the newspaper clutched to her fuzzy chest. She curled her tail around her to comfort herself, finding that it felt like she was giving herself a hug. It reminded her of her mother's fake fox fur coat at home, one that she bought for kicks and laughs. It had been so soft and fluffy, huggable without the regret of killing an innocent animal. Her heart ached again at the thought of her parents.

But then something caught her attention, a sound coming from outside. She crept toward the window, brushing away the torn curtain to peek at the outside world. There was a convenience store nearby, actually it was a stand, empty from the owner's selling. There was a Japanese restaurant at the corner to her right, across the street from where she stayed. She sniffed the air, feeling her mouth water and hearing her stomach growl at the wonderful, delightful aroma that seemed to taunt her. Trying to focus on something other than the probably delicious food in the restaurant, she turned her gaze to the left. There was a large building that had multiple stores in it now, but the stores all were closed at the moment. There was a convenience store, a shoe store, and a beauty store that sold hair products and makeup. The sound she'd heard was whistling from an old homeless man that was pushing a buggy of old junk down the sidewalk.

She then frowned. The convenience store was closed, nobody was there. Maybe she could break in and get something and get out before anybody got there. Without normal fingers to test fingerprints in the future, they wouldn't know who committed the crime. And besides, this was about her survival here, she needed to eat! She could still smell the Japanese restaurant's food, and her stomach gave a pitiful growl, begging her to eat something before she went insane from hunger.

So Abigale turned and hurried over to the back of the couch. There was a tote bag that she found in the garbage a while back, perfectly usable and in good condition. So she used it to carry food packs and supplies whenever she found any. But she only did these hunts at night as to not attract attention. After snatching the bag up, she then returned to the window. She looked for any signs of human beings, and there was none now that the old homeless man had disappeared.

She made her move. She tightened the bag over her shoulder and went to the door, which led to the outside case of metal stairs. She closed the door as quietly as she could and scurried down the stairs, keeping her eyes and ears peeled for any signs of people. When none were to be seen when she arrived to the bottom, she then sprinted out towards the store, keeping to the shadows. She came close to the glass of the store's window. She could see inside. There were chips and candies, drinks and even an area in the back that had some tools and some kinds. Not wanting to waste time just staring, she went over to the door and studied it. Busting the glass would bring too much attention, so she needed to be silent. She looked around on the ground, and then spotted a paperclip stuck in some chewing gum nearby. Picking up the little metal piece, she then started to straighten it and shape it. She curved it slightly and hooked it before inserting it into the lock on the door. She listened for the click. She had seen this on a show one time, but she'd never gotten to try it before. She doubted, though, that this would work in real life.

God must have been on her side, because if not four seconds after she thought that she'd give up the lock clicked. Her eyes widening in surprise, she smiled and hurriedly opened the door. Once inside, she put a magazine stand in the doorway to keep the door from closing and accidently locking her in. She then turned and observed the store full of wonderful goods and sweets. She got to work immediately, knowing that she didn't have much time. She began picking up sandwiches from the deli section, shoving chip bags into her bag, snatching up candy and then some bottled drinks like cokes and even some water. She wished she had a bigger bag, though.

Then she almost squealed with joy when she actually saw a few duffle bags being sold in the gift shop section of the store. She opened one up and began stuffing more food and drinks in it. She stuffed it until it almost wouldn't zip closed. Seeing that she had enough to last for weeks possibly, she picked up the bags and hurried towards the door. But then she spotted some bandanas by some sunglasses. Smiling slightly, she snatched up a pink bandana and rushed out the door, kicking the magazine rack out of the way and exiting before the door could close on her.

She full on ran back up the stairs into the abandoned apartment. She closed the door behind her once she entered her room and, after a long silence of breathing heavily and listening to her rapid heartbeat, she burst into a fit of joyous laughter. She'd done it! She'd gotten more food and drinks to last her for a long time to come. She dropped the bags back down on the ground and zipped open her duffle bag and yanked out a deli sandwich. She hadn't even read the label on it when she stole it, but when she did take the time to read it, she felt her stomach do happy, but painful, flips. It was a roast beef foot long sandwich with cheddar cheese and bacon. She almost cried as she tore the wrap off the sandwich and greedily shoved one end into her watering mouth, taking a large chunk and chewing it quickly before taking another and another. She also took out a coke and popped it open, taking a few large gulps before setting the bottle down and returning to her sandwich.

A few minutes later after finishing her sandwich and eating a bag of Doritos and drinking her coke, she shoved the duffle bag under the table in front of the couch and wobbled over to the couch. She then plopped down on it, her stomach finally not hurting anymore and now feeling lullaby of sleep taking her. She used her tail to curl around herself, sighing in content as she closed her eyes with a smile. The cold wasn't bothering her anymore, now that her stomach was full and she was feeling so happy.

Her life may have not been going so well lately, but at least as of now she had food and wasn't worried about being discovered in this old abandoned apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Investigating the Crime**

"What the-! You've got to be kidding me, Mikey!" Donnie complained as he tried to wipe the pepperonis and pizza sauce from his eyes, grumbling when it felt slimy against his fingers. At his side was a brown bag of mutagen canisters while in one of his hands was hos mutagen tracer.

The small, paler turtle in front of him smiled sheepishly as he shoved the rest of his remaining pizza slice into his mouth. "Sowry!" Mikey said through a full mouth.

Leo rolled his eyes as he leapt from the edge of the building to the next one, landing on the ledge before slowing his run to a slow walk. "Come on, guys! We need to find more mutagen canisters before there's a chance for something, or someone, else to mutate!"

Raph grunted as he landed on the building with a thudbefore he began to wipe his arm off, having gotten some of Mikey's pizza on him as well. "Leo, can't we go back and take a break? We've been out here all night."

Leo frowned as he turned to his younger, red-banded brother, putting a finger against the younger turtle's plastron. "No! We can't take a break until all of the mutagen containers in this area are found. If we don't, there is only a greater risk of there being someone that could get hurt."

The hot-headed turtle swatted Leo's finger away and glared at him. "All I'm saying is that-," he looked at his T-phone, "it's already 12:00am. We've been out here since it went dark. We can keep searching for more when we have the strength!"

"Please, Leo?" Mikey pleaded, his eyes half-lidded as he leaned against Raph's shoulder with a yawn. "I've already ate five pieces of pizza to keep me awake… I'm so tired…"

Donnie, having landed on the building right after Mikey, had finished brushing himself off of pizza residue and gave Mikey a concerned look as he glanced back and from his mutagen tracer to Mikey. "Mikey, eating doesn't give you energy right away. You're tired because you're digesting, which takes a lot of energy to do since the blood goes to your intestines and-,"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Raph waved his hand at Donnie to silence him, causing the purple-masked turtle to wear an unamused expression as Raph turned back to Leo. "Look, we're all tired and won't be able to keep this up all night. We need to go back to the lair and come back tomorrow night."

Leo was about to object, but in a split second he took the time to observe his brothers' conditions. He came to realize that they were all exhausted now that he was actually paying attention. Mikey was practically asleep on Raph's shoulder, well, at least until Raph shrugged him off and caused him to fall to the ground. Raph's eyes even were dull and not as focused, and Leo knew that Donnie offered such pieces of knowledge when he was under stress, which meant that he was also drained. And now that Leo thought about it, he felt as if his muscles were about to collapse from exhaustion.

He let out a sigh of frustration. He knew that they were all fatigued and worn out, but another voice in the back of his mind aggressively reminded him that there was still mutagen canisters to collect, and that if they didn't there could only be more trouble for New York City. The city was practically depending on the turtles without even knowing of their existence. But he also thought that there wouldn't be any point in collecting the canisters if they couldn't even walk without falling asleep.

"Well…" he pondered hard for a minute, trying to decide between how he felt and what his conscious was telling him. Go back to the lair and wait it out so that they'd have more energy to keep up the search, or continue their hunt for more canisters and risk becoming too drained to continue. Finally he shook his head, mentally slapping himself in guilt of his decision.

"Alright… Let's go home." He saw relief wash across all three of his brothers' faces. Sighing, he watched Raph take the lead as they started back home. As Leo started to follow, he couldn't help but feel as if his stomach began curl in on itself in guilt. He wondered how many people, or animals, that would be affected by the mutagen before the next night.

As the group hopped from rooftop to rooftop towards the direction of the nearest pothole, they came past an area where there was a Japanese restaurant, a building with multiple stores, and a convenience store were all grouped together around the same block. As he was jumping, Donnie's eyes wandered to the convenience store and he suddenly came to a skidding halt, causing his younger brother Mikey to run into his back hard and knocked them both down onto the ground, Mikey lying on top of Donnie's back.

"Mikey!" Donnie cried, glaring at his brother over his shoulder.

Mikey only returned his agitated look. "Don't start that! You were the one who stopped!"

Donnie grumbled at the fact that it was his fault that they were in this situation, but then when Mikey wasn't making any move to get up, the older brother shoved him off of him and got to his feet. It wasn't even five seconds that Mikey was already asleep on the ground again.

"Really?" Donnie rolled his eyes.

Leo then caught up with them. "What's wrong?"

Donnie turned his head to look at the store again, finding it kind of suspicious for a minute. Leo looked to the direction to see what was wrong, but then frowned and looked back at his purple-banded brother. "What is it?"

The brainiac was silent for a minute, feeling something forming in his stomach that resembled wariness. But he shook his head, telling himself that he was only imagining things and looking to his older brother with a tired smile.

"Guess I'm just seeing things… Let's get back to the lair."

Leo nodded as he started off after his other two brothers, leaving Donnie to stand there for a moment as he tried to correct his vision. He squinted his eyes at the store's entrance door, seeing that behind it was a knocked over magazine rack. He may have been seeing it, but maybe it was just the fault of a careless store owner. So, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his sleepy mind, he hurried off to catch up with his brothers as they set off to home.

_The Next Afternoon, 6:00 pm…_

It was quiet in the lair as the young ninja turtles awaited nightfall. They weren't too fond of having to go on that scavenger hunt all over again, but they were consoled by the thought that they wouldn't be as likely to tire out as easily now that they had a whole day to rest it off. Leo was itching to go as he sat in front of the TV, watching _Space Heroes_ although he wasn't fully focused on the humorous effects of the weaker character being slapped by his 'hero' in the show. He was too worried about what could have happened the previous night after the turtles returned home. Could somebody have become mutated, or an animal perhaps? Was there a monster roaming around the city now, possibly frightening the city dwellers?

"Doooonnniiieee!" Mikey abruptly shouted from his spot in the tire swing above the pool, earbuds in his ears. "Your T-pod isn't working!"

Donnie rolled his eyes from his lab and continued to use a screwdriver to spin the screw into the gadget he was working on. ""Have you checked the batteries?"

"No!" Mikey shouted.

"Then go find some more batteries and see if that works!" the brainiac snapped as he barely kept himself from stabbing the work table in annoyance.

Careful not to get his precious T-pod wet, Mikey hopped over the water and hurried off to Donnie's lab. Once there, he glanced around the room and saw a flashlight on the table across the room from where Donnie sat. Knowing that the flashlight used the same batteries, Mikey quietly tip-toed across the room in order to not disturb his brother. He unscrewed the flashlight and took the batteries out, opening the T-pod and replacing them before throwing the bad batteries into the trash before testing the T-pod out again. Once he heard his favorite upbeat music again, he smiled in relief and content before walking back into the living room to resume his comic reading.

Raph sat on the couch behind Leo, comic book in hand, his legs crossed and his eyes dully focused on the pictures and captions of the comic pages. He glanced from his comic to the blue-banded brother in front of him and arched a mask ridge with a curious curve of his lip.

"Spaced out on the show, Leo?" he cracked, almost chuckling at his own pun.

Leo groaned. "How can I watch TV when all I can think about is what could have happened last night after we came back to the lair?"

Raph, remembering what Leo had lectured them about the night before, rolled his eyes and straightened out his comic book. "Oh, c'mon, Leo. Nothing happened. I guarantee you that all went well after last night."

Leo shot him a disbelieving frown. "Yeah? How would you know that?"

"Because nothing's popped up on the news yet."

"Raph, the news hasn't even been on." Leo retorted.

Unexpectedly an orange-haired human girl rushed into the lair through the train station-like gates at the entrance. "Guys, turn on the news!"

Raph glanced over his shoulder to see April and Casey hurrying to behind the couch. "Well, I guess something must have popped up."

Leo did as told and turned the channel to the news. When the channel was on, there was a male news reporter standing in front of the camera, along with a Chinese-looking man of about thirty or so.

"_So what you are saying is that your store was robbed by an animal?" the reporter was asking the store owner. _

"_Yes, but not just by any animal! I looked at my security cameras and there was a giant squirrel robbing my merchandise!" the Chinese man raised his hands as he spoke._

_The reporter stared wide-eyed at the man for a minute, blinking a few times as if he was trying to remember what he was about to ask. But then he shook his head and held the microphone to his mouth. "A… giant squirrel…?"_

"_Yes, it just starting taking things off shelves and out of the refrigerators! It even took a duffle back and a bandana! And the videos weren't the only proof. There were squirrel tracks all over the store and hair!"_

Now all of the turtles were gathered at the living room with April and Casey, along with Splinter who had overheard the loud TV. Raph stared long and hard at the TV with wide eyes, and when Leo turned his gaze to glare at him, he held his hands up in defense.

"Okay, so I was wrong!"

"Looks like a mutant visited the convenience store last night." Donnie contemplated aloud, and then he suddenly snapped his fingers. "Of course! I KNEW that something was up when we passed by that place!"

April arched a brow at him. "You guys knew about the robbery?"

Raph and Mikey looked to Donnie in confusion while Leo merely shrugged. "We were all very tired outside."

"I just thought that I was seeing things." Donnie finished.

"Well, I suggest that when night arrives, you go investigate the crime scene and see if you can track down this 'giant squirrel'. If this is indeed a mutant, it is crucial that we take control of it immediately. There could be trouble for the city if the thief isn't captured quickly." Splinter said to his sons, staring in concern at the TV before looking to the boys for their agreement. They all nodded their heads in understanding before he turned away and disappeared into the dojo, most likely to return to his meditation.

Casey huffed and hung his hockey stick over his shoulders, speaking in a hushed tone. "Giant squirrels… Might as well be giant rats…"

Donnie crossed his arms. "Actually for your information, rats tend to spend their lives in darker places closer to the ground to scavenge for food and possibly on live prey that they sometimes manage to catch. Squirrels tend to live up in high places in nests and forage on a variety of nuts and other vegetation."

Cassie rolled his eyes. "Both are rodents, both are furry. They're the same."

Donnie shot him an unamused frown before turning to Leo, who was clearing his throat to get their attention. "Alright, so the plan is that tonight when it turns dark, we go to that convenience store and investigate the area. Maybe we can figure out where the… um… giant squirrel went."

_Later That Day, 10:00 pm…_

So the dark of the night came quickly, and as soon as they were given the chance the turtles along with the reluctant Casey Jones were off, leaving April with Splinter for the time being until they either came back with an answer to the investigation or actually found the culprit. The city had become quieter than it usually was during the day, which was an advantage to the group as they leapt from building to building, being sure to keep a watch for humans roaming around during the night. There were many out, but most of them were on their way home or on their nightshifts at work. They were too busy to notice the ghostly-like figures running along the rooftops, the whites of their eyes mostly showing through their masks as they continued to make their way through New York City towards the small convenience store.

"Wait," Leo suddenly came to a halt, holding up a hand to signal to the others behind him. They all knelt at the edge of the rooftop and gazed intently down at the closed-off convenience store. It was dark, police tapes marking the area as a warning to people to not enter. The turtles, with Casey Jones following close behind, jumped down from the building silently and hurried off, being careful to watch out for wandering people who could see them or cops coming to check on the crime scene.

"You think that the cameras are still recording?" Casey asked, not really directing the question to anybody in particular.

But of course as the genius, Donnie was the one to answer. "It's not likely. They took the tapes when the store keeper mentioned that he caught the crook on tape. That means there's no reason in keeping the cameras recording if they caught the crook on tape."

"Well, in that case, let's go." Raph led the way into the store.

Once inside the store, they saw that not much seemed to be out of place, not at all like an animal's doing. In fact, it just looked like someone had come in and grabbed some things off the shelves. The only thing that was out of order in the place was the knocked over magazine rack near the door, which they all assumed that which was used to prop the door open. Donnie then looked down at the ground and frowned, kneeling down as he put his fingers against the white tile floor.

"Hey, guys, check this out." The others turned their attention to the paw prints on the ground. "The store keeper was right. This wasn't any human that did this."

"Or it isn't human _anymore_." Leo commented stiffly, frowning as he felt his guilt starting to return from the night before. "I knew that we should have kept searching for those canisters last night."

"Look, maybe we can still find him. By the looks of it," Donnie looked to the duffle bags that were for sale, noticing how the footprints led to there as well as some brown hairs that covered the bags, "the culprit will be back, and probably hasn't gone far."

Leo nodded in thought as he frowned at Donnie. "Go check the cams. The store keeper on the news said that he caught this thing on camera. Maybe we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"But the police took the tapes, Leo." Donnie reminded immediately as he remembered about the news mentioning the police taking over the case, making Leo hum in thought.

"Then that means that the police know about the mutant!" Mikey suddenly gasped, accidently crinkling up the bag of chips in his hands. His brothers shot him an incredulous look as they noticed the crumbs all over the young turtle's face, and Mikey smiled guiltily as he hid the bag behind him quickly. "What? I got hungry!"

Leo rolled his eyes and looked to the others. "Come on, we need to get those tapes! If those cops see what that thing is, one of the first places that they'll look is the sewers. We can't let them find the lair!"

Donnie then pulled out a small container with a yellow lid, much like the kind that crime scene investigators used to store small-found items in that might have been tied to the case. "I can collect some of the hair and to take back to my lab. When we get back from the police station I'll see if I can match it to any rodents in the area, you know, to get a better idea of what you're dealing with."

Leo nodded. "Right. Come on, guys!" With that being said, he, Raph, Mikey, and Casey hurried out of the store to get to the nearest police station while Donnie stayed behind for a moment to collect some animal hair before leaving to follow the group. Leo led the way to the police station, hoping that the police hadn't gotten any good leads yet as to where they were having to look for their suspect.

The police station was still active, not with as many officers, but still with enough people to set the turtles and teenage boy on edge. It was quite a large station, too, which meant that there would be many rooms to look for the tapes in.

"Donnie," Leo said quietly as they looked down at the building from the rooftop of a nearby apartment. "You know where those tapes are here?"

Donnie put a finger to his chin and thought for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. "The lab for the evidence holding should be at the back of the station. It's actually not a real lab, but a place to hold the evidence before it is shipped off to an actual crime lab for testing."

"Great! I say we just need to crawl through the vents and get to that room, get the tapes, and get out before anybody sees us. Anyone object to that plan?" Leo exclaimed as he turned to his companions.

Casey then grinned deviously behind his mask. "I'll make it easier for ya'll! I got some spare firecrackers in my bag."

"Awesome, a diversion! Just what we needed." Leo agreed with a smile.

"Well let's get to it instead of talking about it!" Raph groaned in agitation of the seemingly never-ending conversation, jumping down from the rooftop and landing on the police station roof. The other turtles followed him while Casey hurried off to get his fireworks ready for the distraction. Donnie found a vent entrance in the ceiling, and they all motioned to Casey, who was standing further down the street, to start. Casey had lined up his fireworks, all small rockets, and began lighting them. Once all lit, he scrambled to get to cover and out of sight for when the cops came to investigate the disturbance in the streets.

Not a few seconds later one by one the rockets shot up into the sky, blasting into millions of sparks and loud cracks. Curious of the commotion, people in their homes and apartments came out to see what was going on, as did the police exit the station to see what the racket was. When Donnie concluded that most of the police had left, each turtle one by one entered the vents, closing the opening behind them. Donnie led the way this time through the vent systems, making sure to keep from causing too much noise from their movement against the metal containment.

"Jeez! It's freakin' cold!" Mikey shivered, feeling goosebumps form along his skin.

Leo glared at him over his shoulder. "Shh! We could be right above somebody! We need to be silent."

But just as he finished his sentence, a metal plate under him came loose under his weight and he gasped when it gave out. His hands gripped the metal edge and before the piece of metal that fell under him hit the floor he snatched it up with his feet in air. His eyes widened when he realized that he was hanging in a room where an officer was sitting at his desk, his back turned to him with headphones blaring music, a newspaper in his hands. In front of the officer was a wall of screens with different camera views displayed. Leo sighed in relief, hoisting himself up back into the ceiling and replacing the metal back into the spot it once was.

"That wasn't very silent, Leo!" Raph snorted, grinning evilly at his older brother.

Leo glared at him. "Let's just get back on track!"

"Guys, I think I've found the room!" Donnie called from ahead as quietly as he could, but loud enough for them to hear over their arguing. He hung his head from the ceiling exit, looking for any cameras. He spotted one in the corner of the room right beside his head, and he smiled when an idea came to mind. He took out his T-phone and, aligning it side-by-side with the camera, took a picture of the room before propping the screen of his phone in front of the camera lens.

"Alright, c'mon!" he then jumped down from the ceiling, his brothers behind him. The room wasn't large, but there was a wall full of locked lockers across from the entrance door. Locking the door and making sure it wouldn't budge, Raph nodded to Leo, who then turned to the wall of lockers.

"This must be the place for the evidence?" Leo assumed as Donnie approached his side.

"Yeah," the purple-masked sibling replied as he looked from locker to locker, frowning. "We need to find today's date. There should be an envelope with tapes inside it."

So the group got to work, looking for the locker with the day's date. After a minute or two, Raph motioned for them. When they all gathered around the locker, they saw an orange envelope, and when Donnie picked it up, he looked inside and saw two tapes from two difference cameras from th convenience store.

"This is it. Let's get outta here!" he said urgently, hearing voices from outside the room. Suddenly the knob on the door tried to turn, but the door wouldn't budge.

"Hello? Somebody in there?" an officer asked from outside the door, causing the turtle brothers to gasp. When the officer began to grow suspicious and aggressive, he began to bang on the door and tried to knock it down. They all quickly began to jump up back into the vent, and after Donnie shut the locker quietly and locked it, he followed his brothers into the vent and closed it behind them, tapes in hand. Luckily they got out just as the officer kicked down the door, gun in his hands, but finding that nobody was in the room. After seeing that nothing was disturbed in the room, he frowned as he put his gun back into his holster.

"Must have locked it by accident when I left…" he assumed aloud, resuming his former position back in his seat in the room before he had gone to check out the firework commotion.

The turtles hurried out of the vents of the station and climbed back up the apartment building where Casey was waiting for them.

"Did you get them?" he asked while rolling around on his skates while playing with a hockey puck with his hokey stick.

Leo nodded. "Yeah, let's get back to the lab."

When the group got back to the lair, Donnie took the fur samples and tapes back to his lab immediately to start his tests while the other turtles already began getting things together for going back out to look for canisters. Donnie had told Leo that he could take the mutagen tracer with them while the brainiac stayed behind to conduct his tests.

"You guys ready?" Leo asked urgently, itching to get back out and search for more canisters before there was a chance for something else to become mutated out in the city.

Raph nodded as he cracked his knuckles and straightened his belt. "Yeah, yeah, let's just go."

Mikey groaned. "Do we have to?"

Leo glared at the younger turtle. "Mikey, we have to collect as many as those things as we can before somebody gets hurt! April's father's already a victim here, and many more people will be just like him if we don't do this. This is our fault, so we need to fix it!"

Raph suddenly frowned. "OUR fault?! Excuse me, but I don't think that we were the ones who brought the mutagen canisters here in the first place!"

"But we let them loose in the city!" Leo countered aggressively.

"Guys, quit arguing!" April suddenly snapped, her cheeks flushing in anger and hurt at the mention of her poor mutated father. "Just get going and collect them! We don't have time to wait."

Leo nodded and hurried off, Raph glaring daggers at him while Mikey passed him to follow their leader. Reluctant but also knowing that in the back of their mind that they were indeed partially responsible for the city's mess, he followed the two brothers and Casey out of the lair. April, her arms crossed and tears trying to prick at her eyes, felt her heart ache at the thought of her father having been turned into a mutated bat. But she huffed and shook her head, supposing that training with Splinter would help with coping with the reality of the situation that seemed so much like a nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

**Cornered**

A few hours after Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Casey had left the lair to carry out their search for the mutagen canisters, Donnie had called his brothers to tell them that he had got a lead on the culprit in the convenience store. He had concluded that the DNA found in the fur he gathered indeed belonged to a squirrel-like rodent, and he even found human DNA mixed within it and assumed that someone else had fallen victim to mutagen-caused transformation. But because of the mutagen mutated DNA mixed within, he couldn't uncover who the human was or if was a man or woman. Wanting to return back to the crime scene, Donnie had joined up with his brothers to help further investigate the scene.

"Alright, so we know that this thing used to be human. But why hasn't he, or she, gone to the police?" Raph asked as he put his hands on his hips, looking around the store with a frown.

"Maybe they were scared." Leo assumed.

Donnie was outside, looking towards the line of apartments across the street and frowning in thought. The buildings were dark, and he knew that they'd been abandoned for a while now. "The mutant left the store and went this way, as from what the partial of the screen looked. Maybe he lives in one of those abandoned apartments."

"It would make sense," Casey mused as he followed the brainiac outside. "I wouldn't want to show my ugly face after it was mutated either!"

"I would say it makes more sense for him to want to hide from people because of fear, Casey." Donnie rolled his eyes as he already began following Leo and the others towards the abandoned apartment complex. As they entered the first floor, they realized just how eerie the place felt and hose dark the atmosphere was. These apartments had been abandoned long ago for reconstruction, but the construction workers hadn't come back to start their work due to mechanical problems with their machine.

"Wow… This is so freaky!" Mikey whispered in awe as he leaned towards a mess of cobwebs with tiny spiders in the corner of the room. "It's just like a scene in my vampire comic! Cobwebs, dusty furniture, darkness! It feels just like a vampire is about to-," he then paused, thought for a second, and then realized that he was alone in the room before he hurried off to catch up with his brothers. "Hey! Wait up!"

Leo, flashlight in hand, shined the yellow orb up the stairs as the group slowly crept up the steps, careful not to trip over anything in the darkness. They arrived at the second floor, and Donnie took out his mutagen tracer as they opened the door to the first room they came to. The mutagen tracer immediately started acting up, spinning quickly in fast movements when he stuck his arm in.

"In here," he whispered as he motioned to his brothers, and they entered with caution, not sure what to completely expect. They knew that they were up against a squirrel of a good size, but they didn't know what kind of abilities that it possibly had or how strong it was, how aggressive it was because of the squirrel nature or how smart with the human DNA.

The room's paint-withering walls were a faded blue as well as the rugged carpet that was rough on their feet. There was an old white leather couch that was torn and aged to the point of turning brown, and there was a recliner that was broken already, lying back on the ground with the seat facing up. The book shelves were empty, only two or three old, dusty books lying sprawled on the floor. The curtains on the windows were tattered and were just enough to shield the room from light. The mirror across the room was broken into was seemed like a million pieces. It occurred to the group that the mutant must have lived here, for just like the store keeper had said on the news there was a duffle bag full of snacks and drinks under the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Home sweet home…" Raph mused lightly, the corner of his lip turning up in slight amusement as he eyed the room.

Casey was wandering off to the center of the room, approaching the couch and putting a hand on it distractingly as his eyes roamed the room's interior. "Heh, looks like a… place for rats…" But he then felt the couch shift and he frowned as he turned his attention to the piece of furniture. He looked over the back of it and saw the pile of blankets, or one blanket actually, moving. He then grabbed the edge of the blanket, and jerked it abruptly back to reveal a pair of equally wide, glossy, black-brown eyes and a furry round face and perked ears.

"AHHHH!" Both Casey and the squirrel screamed as he threw the blanket back onto the creature and raced to the turtles to hide behind them. The turtles all got their weapons ready and narrowed their whitened eyes at the couch as the blanket suddenly hurled itself off onto the floor and began to thrash around as the animal within it was tangled.

"Be ready, guys…" Leo said, but then the creature emerged from the blanket, and in a daze and panic it rushed blindly towards them. But when it realized what was standing in front of it, it shrieked in an almost human-like voice and spun around and darted to the corner, curling up with its legs sprawled as it realized that it was trapped. Its chest heaved as it stared up at the turtles and human with wide, fearful eyes, its large black pupils darting back and forth between each character. Around its neck was a pink bandana, like the store keeper had mentioned.

"This must be the crook…" Mikey murmured as he looked at it. Then he smiled. "Aww, he's so cute!"

"Calm down, giant squirrel…" Leo said carefully as held his swords up, not in a way of an offensive stand, but in case the squirrel decided to attack, and he needed to be prepared to defend himself. "We aren't going to hurt you. Donnie, you have the tranquilizer?"

Donnie nodded slowly as he came to Leo's side, taking the dart in his hand along with the tube he intended to blow the dart through. "Yeah… Be easy, he's only acting on instinct."

The creature's eyes widened and for a moment it seemed to be faltering with its feet, trying to find an escape route between the turtles. But seeing none, it backed up into the corner again, and seemed to be in an almost human-like crouching pose, its tail wrapped around it in a way of shielding itself. Its ears flattened, the squirrel's nose twitched as it let out a raspy chatter-like sound. Its fur bristled as it flattened its head and hissed.

"Put it out! PUT IT OUT!" Casey cried frantically, still hiding around the turtles.

The squirrel's haunches tensed as it was about to take a lunge. But Donnie's dart hit the creature in the flank before it had a chance to leap towards a possible escape way, and instantly it began to show signs of fatigue. Its eyes began to close, and its muscles seemed to become less tense as it tried to stand on its hind legs, putting a hand on its flank to inspect the dart's red feathered tail. Soon, the squirrel succumbed to the sleepy feeling and flopped onto the ground, letting out a pitiful groan in the process.

"Wow… That went better than I had thought." Raph commented when all went quiet, bringing everybody out of their trance as they stared at the silent, down creature. Donnie cautiously crept to it, kneeling down and putting a hand on its shoulder, shaking it slightly to test if it was completely sedated. When the animal didn't make any move or noise, he gave his brothers a thumbs up.

"He's out. We'll need to get him back to my lab for inspection."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's pack 'em up and take 'em!" Raph exclaimed as he walked over and, with the help of Donnie lifting the head, picked the posterior end of the animal up.

Casey whimpered as he pointed a finger at the creature in the two turtles' arms, grateful that his frightened face was hidden behind his mask. "You mean that you're gonna take that thing to the lair?!"

"Casey, he's not a thing, it used to be a normal human being!" Donnie said as he carefully secured the squirrel's head and shoulders in his arms. "And yes, we need to take him back to the lair to keep him safe."

Casey hated the thought of having another… rat, in the lair. Not that he didn't like Splinter, he just had his phobia of rats, and a squirrel much resembled a rat with many characteristics that were similar. But he also knew that this creature used to be a human just like him, and that he needed help. So the teenage boy sighed in dread as he followed his comrades out the door and down the stairs on their way back to the lair.

_The Next Day, 10:47 am…_

When Abigale opened her eyes, she was blinded by the bright light of the TV. Her whole body felt sore, especially her leg, and when she touched it gently she felt that the area of pain was swollen. Cringing, she tried to sit up to look around at her surroundings. Propping herself up on a pillow that she had been laying on, she wiped her eyes before looking around at the large room that she was in. She seemed to be in a square-shaped dip in the concrete floor where there was pillows and a beanbag nearby, a TV set in front of her where a… animal sat in front of her. She frowned, her nose twitching in confusion.

"Oh hey, he's up." A voice caught her attention and she turned to look beside her a few feet away down the bench-like structure, where a green figure with a red mask over his eyes sat with a magazine in his hand. He eyed her with lime-green eyes as his magazine was lowered into his lap.

_A turtle? _Abigale blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating, her already widened eyes narrowing as she saw the figure in front of the TV turn around to reveal that he too was a turtle. He was wearing a blue mask over his eyes, and he had blue eyes instead of green.

"Oh, good! Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked hurriedly, hoping to calm her down as he could see her fur bristling up. She gasped in panic as she scrambled to stand up, to get away from the possible threat. Her animal instincts kicking in, she leapt from the seat and over it, frantically racing away from the turtles.

"Well, hello to you, too." Raph huffed, and Leo shot him a warning glare.

She looked over her shoulder, but then she ran head-first into something hard and she grunted as she fell backwards. After she shook her head to clear it, she looked up at the taller figure that was standing above her, another turtle with a purple mask and brown eyes, wearing a worried expression.

"Hey, calm down! Don't hurt yourself!" he tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but in her panic she flipped over onto her feet and scurried off, feeling her claws scrape against the concrete ground as she heaved air in an out of her chest. But before she got too far, she was suddenly grabbed up by someone and the front half of her body was lifted unexpectedly off the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around her under her arms.

"Aww! It's okay, little guy! You're safe now!" When she looked up at her capturer, she shrieked when she once again saw ANOTHER turtle, this time with an orange mask and bright happy blue eyes with a wide smile across his green face.

Unconsciously using her claws, she gripped his arms and wriggled out of his grasp by kicking her legs, causing him to yelp in surprise and pain before he dropped her abruptly and she sprinted off in the opposite direction on all fours once again. Raph and Leo gasped and raced to their brother's side in concern, along with Donnie to check on Mikey's scratches on his arms. Raph grumbled and took out his Sai and twirled them in his hands a few times before marching off to the direction that the squirrel mutant ran.

Mikey's eyes widened. "Don't hurt him! He didn't mean it, he was just scared!"

Raph huffed in agitation. "He's about to be terrified once I get a hold of him!"

"But he ran into the dojo!" Leo pointed out, wondering how it went when the creature met Splinter.

In the dojo, Splinter was standing at the base of the tree looking up at it when Raph and his brothers walked in. Calmly, he turned his gaze to his sons and observed Raph's anger and Mikey's small, partially bleeding wounds on his arm, which he didn't seem to mind. Leo and Donnie were looking at their sensei in curiosity while Mikey looked up in worry at the tree.

"Is he okay?" Mikey asked.

Splinter nodded. "She. Yes, she is alright. She is just frightened."

"Oh!" Mikey gasped, smiling brightly. "She's a girl!"

"Yes. She came in here and was hesitant on deciding where to go. She then ran up this tree, and hasn't made any sound since." Splinter, hands clasped behind his back, turned his attention back up the tree. "Poor girl, she is frightened of all of this that is happening. Raphael, you shouldn't show such anger right now. You will only encourage her to be afraid."

Raph was about to protest, but then he sighed and grumbled under his breath, sticking his Sai back into his belt. "Yes, Sensei…"

"Do you think we can get her down?" Leo asked, straining his neck to look up at the dark shadows of the tree limbs, unable to see her in the branches. He wondered how in the world she got into the tree so fast.

Splinter sighed softly as he gazed up at the tree branches, listening to the mutated girl's irregular heartbeat that only he could hear, as well as her rapid breathing. "I wouldn't advise trying to move her right now. I think it would only cause her to be more afraid. Leave her be for now, let her become used to her surroundings. She'll come down in time, she just needs the time to cope."

Abigale listened to the voices below her at the base of the tree, but her mind was too blurred to make out their words. Her heart pounded in her chest as she clung to the tree branch with her sharp claws, feeling as they scribbled against the bark when she shifted her back feet. Trying to slow down her swirling mind and calm her now aching heart, she took slow, shaky breaths while leaning her cheek against the branch, her fur cushioning her against the rough surface of the tree's 'skin'. Where was she? Why was she here? Who were these strange people? She allowed her animal instincts for only a mere moment to help take in her surroundings. The scent of the place wasn't very pleasant, and there was a pool that led into a drain in the previous room that she was in a minute ago. She couldn't possibly be in the sewers? It sure smelled like it. But she noticed that this place, now that she got to calm her mind, was quite warm and more soothing than the lonely apartment complex that she'd been living in. But these people here, or… creatures, animals, turtles and rats! They were walking like they were human and talking to each other, having human conversations. Were they in the same predicament that she was? Were they all once human and were without a home?

Then she noticed just how tired she was. The adrenaline in her system was wearing off, and she began to feel fatigued again as she yawned. As she listened as the turtles left the room, she began to feel more secure with less people in the room. With the sounds fading, she blinked rapidly, slowly falling asleep on the branch.

In the Donnie's lab, a certain orange-masked turtle was having his arms treated by the older purple-masked brother with ointment and bandages. Donnie was wrapping his left arm at that moment, being careful not to wrap his arm too tightly.

"You really shouldn't have tried to hug her, Mikey." Donnie was saying to his younger brother. "You knew that she was panicked."

Mikey shrugged as he looked back up at the older turtle with disappointed eyes. "I just thought that a hug would make her feel better…"

Donnie sighed, nodding in understanding. "Well, fortunately she's not an actually squirrel that's been mutated, or I would have to have given you a rabies shot."

Mikey's eyes widened for a mere moment before he breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh… yeah…"

"Well, luckily these scratches weren't too bad. You're lucky that she only wanted to get away, instead of attack you." Donnie huffed as he finished the bandages, patting his brother on the shoulder before getting up and returning to his work on his gadgets.

Mikey sighed as he stood up, moving his arms around a little before turning to exit the lab. Leo and Raph had gone to take a morning nap since they all had a rough night and he guessed, since he suddenly yawned and his eyes were half-lidded, that maybe he should take a nap himself. It would do him some good anyway. He looked back in the lab at Donnie, and he supposed that the brainiac was just going to stay up and work, as usual.

He wandered off toward the direction of his room, already stretching as he started to pass the dojo. But then he paused in mid-step, backing up and peeking into the dojo. He stared at the large tree for a long while, wondering if that girl, or… squirrel, was really okay up there all alone. He worried that she might have been cold up there. He knew that her fur probably provided her with enough heat, but even he knew that loneliness could make the world feel colder than what it really was. He remembered the look in her eyes when he had first gotten a good look at them. For even a mere second he could see the fear and confusion when he had held her before, and he knew right before she had clawed at him that she was desperate to be in a safe place.

He then thought for a minute, and smiled as he turned and went to his room. He grabbed his blanket and a pillow and rushed back to the dojo. He knew that he had to be quiet, because Splinter was asleep in a room that was part of the dojo, only separated by a thin wall. He entered the dojo as quietly as he could and crept to the base of the tree. Looking back and forth for any onlookers and seeing none, he took a deep breath and leapt up into the tree, blanket on his shoulder and pillow under his arm as he used his free arm to hoist himself up into the branches. For a moment he searched for her, and then he spotted her brown-grey fur curled up against the trunk of the tree, letting the branches around her almost form like a cradle for her as she lied there in silence. Her tail curled over and covered her face, her back against the tree.

"Um… H-Hi?" he said softly, and instantly her head rose and she eyed him up and down, her ears perked and her brown-black eyes locked onto his every movement as he slowly waved at her, a timid smile on his face. "I… Hi… um… I... brought you these. I… thought that you might be cold. I'm Mikey. What's… your name?"

She remained silent as she stared at him intently, her ears twitching when he had spoken, but flattened when he hushed to hear her answer. But she never answered, and he felt his heart sink a little in disappointment as he sighed and sat the pillow and blanket down on a larger branch near her, keeping in mind how she watched every movement that he made.

"Well… here… I hope it's enough… But you are fluffy and all, so… Just in case, though." He patted the blanket and pillow, and when she made no move for them, he smiled. "They're nice and soft… See?" he rubbed the cottony surface of the blanket. When she still remained motionless, he sighed again and shrugged. "Well… Goodnight… Hope ya have… sweet dreams…"

Her eyes followed him as he slowly, carefully, turned away and disappeared out of the tree. Once she heard the bump of his feet against the ground, she slowly leaned forward to look over the branches to see what he was doing. But he was leaving, in fact he was already walking out of the room. She tilted her head in thought for a moment, her ears flattening against her head as she looked to the blanket and pillow. With this fur, it was too hot for her to cover up with anything, at least in this room anyway since it was much warmer than the apartment she was in. But… the bark of this tree was starting to hurt her side… And the turtle only meant good for her, despite the scratches that she had given him. She felt a little guilty about it, but still, she wasn't sure about this whole situation.

So, with a soft sigh and a troubled heart, she hesitantly grabbed the blanket and, after adjusting a bit, folded it up and laid it on the branch underneath her. Then she took the pillow and propped it up against the tree's trunk, fluffing it a bit. For a moment, she was put off by the scent of old pizza. But, remembering the turtle's intentions, she looked passed the funny smell and curled up on the blanket, leaning her head against the pillow and using her tail to curl around her.

She was relieved that sleep came quickly after she closed her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Chance of Safety**

_Later That Day, 3:36 pm…_

The whole day, April and Casey had been at school while the turtles stayed at the lair, not allowed to go outside or even willing to from being so tired. But one young ninja turtle had been up periodically during the day, disappearing into the dojo for a minute before coming back out, not taking anything or coming out with anything. It made the other turtles curious, and Raph actually demanded to know what the younger brother had been up to. But he'd only reply with a "Nothing" or a "Just restless".

"Hey, come to think of it," Raph was saying as he conversed with his brothers in the living room. "Did that squirrel-girl ever come down from that tree at all today?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't think so. Splinter's been in there all day, too, as usual. He hasn't spoken, so I know he hasn't talked to her."

"Can she even talk at all?" Raph scoffed as he took another bite of his pizza slice, chewing it over a few times before swallowing it.

Donnie shrugged as he fingered his slice. "I can't be for sure. Mutations include a variety of changes, and that may include speech impediment. Maybe her mutation cut off her ability to speak."

"It couldn't have." Leo countered. "She was screaming when we found her, hissing too and chattering like an actual squirrel."

"Like I said, mutation comes in a variety of changes. You never know, maybe her human features are covered by animal instincts. Maybe that's why she hasn't come down from the tree. Squirrels feel much happier in high places such as trees. But still… It makes me wonder if she's eaten recently…"

"Well, we know that she robbed that store of food, so she had eaten recently." Leo pointed out as he chewed.

"Yeah, but she hasn't eaten all day today," Donnie reminded thoughtfully. "I think Mikey's been in there back and forth to check on her. Maybe he knows if she's eaten. Hey, Mikey!"

The young turtle, who was in the kitchen getting himself more pizza, poked his head out from the kitchen entrance. "What?"

"Has squirrel-girl eaten today?" Raph asked, looking over his shoulder with a mouth full of cheese and pizza crust.

Mikey's curious face suddenly faded into an annoyed look. "Stop calling her that! And no, she hasn't eaten. She hasn't even talked. Maybe it's because she's scared of you!"

Raph blinked in a questioning fashion as he raised his shoulders. "Why would she be scared of me?" When Mikey disappeared back into the kitchen and Raph looked to the other two brothers, who were staring at him expectantly with amused expressions, he was silent for a moment before he frowned. "Ah, c'mon, I can't be that bad, can I?"

Leo snorted before he took another bite of his pizza. "Oh yeah…"

"You're terrifying." Donnie clarified as he took a bite of his own pizza.

Raph stared quizzically at them before shaking his head while rolling his eyes, shoving the rest of the crust in his mouth and chewing silently. Mikey entered the living room and plopped down onto the seat beside Raph, taking a loud bite of his cheese pizza and chewing in deep thought. He wondered if the girl was hungry, actually. Then he felt a little guilty for eating without considering that she might be up in that tree, too scared to come down and very hungry from haven't eaten all day. Immediately he stopped chewing, swallowed his only partially chewed bite, almost choking before Raph gave him a hard slap in the shell.

"Thanks…" the younger turtle wheezed, clearing his throat and swallowing before taking a drink of his soda and standing back up.

"Where ya goin'?" Raph demanded as he watched his brother leave.

Mikey started off into the kitchen. "I'm gonna see if she's hungry."

The brothers watched as the younger turtle disappeared for a while into the kitchen, heard a bit of shuffling, and then saw as he reappeared from the kitchen with a pizza box in hand and a brand new soda can in the other. He walked casually into the dojo, now starting to feel excited that he got to see her again. It was like… getting a new puppy and coming home after school after wanting to see it again all day. He looked up at the tree, smiling as he jumped up into the air and into the branches, pulling himself into the branches and sitting himself down on the branches where he'd sat earlier that morning when he'd first checked on her. He was pleased to see that she was using the blanket and pillow he'd given her, curled up with her tail once again covering her face. He smiled at her as he sat with his legs crossed on the branch.

"Hi," he said softly. Just like that morning, she raised her head instantly at the sound of his voice and her eyes locked onto him, her ears perking up. He smiled brightly at her, trying to look as non-threatening as he could. "I brought you some pizza, ya know, in case you were hungry. And soda, I also have some soda, in case you're thirsty."

She eyed the pizza box in his hand and the soda in his other suspiciously. He took a deep breath, and then he carefully sat the box down on group of smaller branches. He then opened the box, showing her that it was indeed pizza, and he turned the can over slowly in his hand as to not shake it up but to also show her that it wasn't penetrated.

"See? Yummy cheese pizza and soda. No poison! I promise! You want me to take a bite to prove it? 'Cuz I will die to prove that it isn't!" he smiled, picking up one of the six slices of cheese pizza and wiggling it at her temptingly. He was surprised to hear a small, but audible giggle from her direction and he could see a smile quivering on her face. He blinked in curiosity for a second, but then he smiled in happiness. If she could giggle, that must mean that she could speak.

"Here," he pushed the box towards her, careful to not knock it over.

She stared at the box for a minute or two, contemplating whether or not to take the food that he was giving her. She let her eyes wander to his, to search for any suspicious expression such as mischief or planning. She saw hope and concern, but nothing negative as far as she could tell. She was uneasy about taking food from a stranger, but her growling stomach was begging her to at least take one slice, even if it meant that it could be her last. Hesitantly, she uncurled her tail and slowly reached a hand towards the waiting box, letting her claws touch a slice before she hurriedly took it and lean back into her spot against the tree's center. She took a few sniffs of it, her nose twitching a bit before she timidly took a small bite. Her pupils widened as the bite hit her ravaging stomach, and before she knew it she was shoving the pizza slice piece by piece into her mouth.

Mikey smiled. "There ya go. I knew that ya had to be hungry!" He watched as she gobbled up the first slice, and then already snatched up another piece and was chewing on it. "So… ya got a name?"

She perked her ears and stared at him as she chewed. He then chuckled bashfully. "I mean… 'Cuz Raph keeps calling you 'squirrel-girl', so I thought that it'd be nicer to call you by your actual name…"

She was silent for a long while, her cheeks chubby from unconsciously storing her food like a chipmunk before swallowing it all, coughing and swallowing bits that still remained in her mouth. Licking her two front, buck teeth, she held the rest of her slice in her hands close to her chest.

"Abigale…"

Mikey's eyes suddenly widened and he slightly tilted his head. "Huh?"

She swallowed again, clearing her throat and flattening her ears. For a moment her eyes were glossy as she struggled with trying to make her voice come out. When she did speak, her voice was cracked, and she coughed after she finished. "Abigale… Johnson…"

"Abigale…" he repeated, and then he smiled brightly at her in happiness that he finally got her to speak, and get a name out of her. "Well, nice to meet ya, Abigale! Can I just call you 'Abby' for short?" She nodded slowly, taking another bite of her pizza. He grinned. "Awesome! Well… I'm sorry that my brother had to… tranquilize you… We were afraid that you might hurt us and we didn't want to hurt you, so… Yeah."

Abigale swallowed the last bite of her second slice, putting a hand to her flank where the dart had penetrated her skin as if to check on it. Mikey felt guilty for a moment, noticing that the area was swollen a little from the penetration of the dart's needle. But she turned her head and nodded at him.

"It's… okay…" she breathed. She still wasn't used to speaking to other people yet, and to make this moment even more awkward, this boy wasn't even human at all. She stared at him again, trying to picture him as his former human self. It was so sad that he and all of his companions had been turned into turtles. Even that guy that was a rat.

"So… where's your folks?" Mikey asked, placing his elbows on his knees.

She paused in mid-reach for another slice of pizza, and he then regretted asking when he saw a depressed dimness accompany her formerly shiny eyes. She then brought her arms and wrapped them around herself in a hug, curling her tail around her as she shielded herself. Her heart felt as though it was sinking in her chest, and she slowly turned away from him and leaned against the tree's center. He felt his stomach forming a knot as his head shrunk into his shoulders, hating that he had brought up what he assumed was a painful subject for her.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

She blinked slowly as she remained silent, only her breathing and slowly blinking eyes showing that she was alive at the moment. Images of her mother and father floated around in her mind, and past memories of her former human life. Tears pricked at her eyes when she remembered her parents' happy faces when they had been together, and she suddenly gritted her teeth in anger when she knew that if they had never divorced, this would have never happened. She wouldn't have ever had come to New York with her mother, and she would never had been turned into… this… thing! She would have been happy, had a home, had her parents, and had her boyfriend! Everything would have still been the same!

Mikey cringed when he heard her sniffle and start to sob quietly to herself. Feeling that maybe he had asked too much of her, and that now as the time to let her be, he slowly backed up and climbed down from the tree. Turning to leave the dojo, he put his hand on the doorway and looked back at the tree, hearing her sniffles amongst the branches above. He sighed, and he turned away to rejoin with his brothers to watch some TV. Maybe a few hours would give her enough time to cool off.

_Later That Afternoon, 5:58 pm…_

"_Captain, what are we going to do?!" SLAP!_

"_Get a hold of yourself, you moron!"_

Leo couldn't contain an amused chuckle as he rested his cheeks against his propped up hands on his knees, smiling a little as he watched his favorite show _Space Heroes_. Donnie had fallen asleep on the bench, snoring quietly with his head hanging backwards and drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. Raph was quietly returning from the kitchen, a shaker of pepper in hand as he grinned evilly back and forth at Mikey and the sleeping Donnie, waving the bottle of pepper in sight. Mikey grinned in amusement as Raph crept over to the sleeping turtle, putting a finger to his lips to hush Mikey, who was struggling to contain his giggles. Mikey tapped Leo on the shoulder, and when Leo saw his other two brothers and began to predict the situation, he grinned and turned around to watch the scene begin to play out.

Slowly with a wide smirk across his face, he brought the shaker of pepper and began to sprinkle pepper flakes all over Donnie's mouth and nose, biting his lower lip to keep from bursting into a fit of laughter as Donnie sniffled, wiggled his nose, and began to coughing. Opening his eyes and squinting, Donnie gasped and he suddenly sat up and let out a great big sneeze, and continued to sneeze and cough as he jumped from his seat and scrambled to his lab, leaving Raph, Mikey, and Leo to roll on the floor laughing.

"I'm so gonna kill you guys before this day's over with!" Donnie shouted between sneezes, and Raph wiped a tear from his eyes.

"You're gonna have to quit sneezing first, dork!" he cackled.

A noise was heard from the lair entrance and the remaining three turtles turned their attention to the red-haired girl and the taller black-haired boy entering the lair, backpacks in hand as they were returning from late studies at school.

"I still don't get it with these science formulas. When will chemistry play a role in my life anyway? It's not like it's gonna save my life or anything, especially since I have no freakin' clue what I'm doin'." Casey was saying to April, securing his hockey stick over his shoulder and wiping his nose of an itch.

April smiled in amusement at him. "Well, that's the whole reason we're having these study sessions now, isn't it?"

Casey rolled his eyes and smiled at Raph, seeing the grin that was displayed on his face and giving his red-masked friend a high-five. "Hey, man, what's up?"

"AAAHHH-CHOOO!" April jumped in surprise and her eyes snapped to the lab doors, hearing sniffling, coughing, and periodic sneezing from an all too familiar turtle.

"Is he okay?" she asked, and the turtle boys all began laughing again, but when she frowned, Mikey answered for his hysteric older brothers.

"Raph put pepper in Donnie's face!" he giggled.

April smiled and rolled her eyes in a knowing fashion. She should have guessed that the brothers had pulled something on their purple-masked sibling. Soon enough, Donnie stepped out of the lab with a wet rag placed over his nose and mouth, only taking it off to wave and greet April with a bashful smile before his eyes widened and he sneezed again.

"Bless you!" she chuckled, and he groaned before nodding and returning to his lab to come up with something to get rid of the pepper. When he left, she then frowned and looked to Leo. "How is she?"

"Who?" Leo blinked, but then he shook his head and nodded. "Oh! Uh, I don't know, actually. Mikey's been the only one who's actually tried to talk to her. Splinter told us that we shouldn't train in the dojo until she has completely calmed down and all."

"But she hasn't come down from the tree ever since she got here." Raph informed as he hopped back into his seat, having calmed down from his hysteric laughing.

Casey huffed, smiling in obvious relief. "Well, as long as that thing is away from me, I am perfectly happy!"

April then frowned at the boy. "Casey! That mutant is a poor girl! She needs help, and she needs friends. Maybe I can talk to her?"

Mikey shrugged. "I dunno, she's pretty high up in the tree… But… maybe I can try to talk to her and see if she wants to come down."

The girl smiled and nodded in excitement. "Yes, please! I want to see her."

He shrugged. "Okay. But… wait in here!"

With that, he jumped up from the floor and walked toward the dojo, disappearing behind the wall and leaving them to wait for him. Mikey looked behind the wall to make sure that nobody was following, and he then returned to see Abigale. He walked to the base of the tree and looked up at the branches, wondering if she was feeling any better from the talk they had earlier. Should he bother her? He could just tell April and the others that she was still unwilling to come down or speak. But then he felt a little bad, and he knew that he would have to apologize to her anyway.

"Abby?" he called softly, looking up at the branches, and when he didn't hear anything for a moment, he leapt up into the tree and climbed up into the branches.

When he got up into the branches, he saw her sitting up with her back against the pillow against the tree's center. She was fiddling with the soda can in her hands, plucking at the tab of the empty can with her index claw. When his feet touched the branches, her ears twitched and she turned her head to look at him.

"… Mikey?" she croaked, setting the can down on the branch beside her.

He smiled timidly at her, kneeling down on the branch and using his hand to steady himself against the tree's center. "Hey! Um… Hey, I just… I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry, if I… you know… made ya upset earlier." He raised his shoulders and began expecting the worst, the possibility that she would fall silent again and cry.

But she didn't turn away or start crying. Instead she smiled bashfully and rested her hands in her lap. "It's… okay…" she paused for a minute to consider her next words, and then she sighed. "This is all just so… weird… sudden… How do you cope with it?"

He blinked in confusion. "With what?"

She batted her eyes at him in her own way of confusion. "Being turned into an animal mutant?"

He took a moment to let her words sink in, frowning in thought. But then he smiled and nodded slowly, his mouth open in an 'ohh' motion. "OOHHH…. Oh no, no, no! I wasn't a human before I was mutated."

She tilted her head, her ears going erect in alarm as she gawked at him. "Wait… what?"

He nodded to confirm his point. "Yeah, me and my brothers were actually turtles before we were mutated. I mean… legit, actual, tiny baby turtles. Splinter was human, though. We were all mutated together!"

She stared at him in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open slightly. She began looking him up and down. How could something with such… 'human' qualities used to be something with such a simple and… noncomplex mind? She looked to his eyes, searching for answers that she supposed that she would never receive. His eyes were such a bright blue, surely to belong to a being that was once human! No turtle had eyes like that. And his face, of course turtles could have unique features in their facial structures but surely not such a variety of emotional, expressive facial expressions. It was hard to believe that he had been a simple turtle at all!

But as she expected this to be a joke and she studied his face, she began to slowly, painfully realize that there was no trickery there, and no mockery either. He only stared back with a simple but expectant smile, which slowly faded into a curious perk of his lips as he raised his mask ridges.

"You… aren't kidding… are you?" she murmured, her small pointed ears drooping back against her head as she lowered her shoulders, her too front buck teeth showing more obviously as she felt her jaw hang open.

He shook his head, smiling brightly. "Nope. But hey, I see your reason for misunderstanding. I'm obviously WAY much better looking that a normal turtle!" He slid a hand across the top of his head and smiled crookedly at her in a charming but meant to be funny way.

This statement earned a small giggle out of her as she put her hands to her mouth, smiling in disbelief at him. He laughed, happy to see that she was feeling better and now even smiling. But then he offered her a soft and curious look as he tilted his head, slumping his shoulders as he glanced back and forth from her to the ground below them.

"Don't you want to come down from the tree?" he asked in a worried tone.

She curiously looked down at the base of the tree over the limb she was sitting on, and instantly realization struck her and she scooted back up against the trunk of the tree with her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes wide. He frowned and looked down at the ground, and then back to her. For a long minute he pondered over her reaction, and then he snapped his fingers.

"You're scared of heights, aren't you?" he inquired, a look of realization washing over his face as he watched her nod. "And you got yourself stuck up here?! Why didn't you tell me?"

She took a shallow and shaky breath. "I… I was scared."

He smiled. "Scared of what? Me laughing at you?" When she didn't reply, he sighed and smiled at her. "Hey, I'll help ya get down if ya want."

The idea of getting down from this tree sounded quite nice to her at this moment. She was tired of sitting on the tree's bark, and she wanted to get down from this height. But when she glanced down at the ground again, she gulped in fright at the sight of how high she had actually gotten herself. How did she even get up here anyway? She remembered that when she had woken up in this strange place in the first place, her animal instincts took control and all she could think about was getting to a safe place. She guessed that she blindly just climbed up the best place she saw, and it had to be the place a squirrel would choose… She mentally slapped herself in the face.

But then she watched as he slowly held out his hand to her, studying the green skin of his palm. Her eyes traveled up to his, searching for something, but not quite sure what. She saw the sincerity in his blue orbs as he smiled at her, shifting his hand towards her.

"I can help you." His voice was soft, genuine and friendly as he smiled softly at her.

She nodded slowly, and she carefully lifted her hand and placed it in his own. His warmth seemed to soothe her, and she took a deep breath as he began to slowly lead her towards the opening in the tree's branches, where he'd came up to see her through. She took a glimpse at the ground again and whimpered in dread.

"Oh, it's okay! It's okay!" he said in a soothing tone, easing his legs down and using his free hand to grab onto a lower tree-limb. "Here, grab on."

She closed her eyes tightly, tried to relax her heart, and then slid one arm down his and wrapped her elbow around his neck. He suddenly burst into a fit of giggles and grinned as she clung to him for dear life.

"Your fur tickles!" he giggled, but then he straightened back up and cleared his throat, making sure he had a secure hold on her. She wasn't any larger than himself, now that he was close enough to her to get a better examination of her. She was actually around his height. "Okay, just hold on. We'll be down in a second."

Her eyes widened. "You're not going to jump, are you?"

Instead of answering, he decided to get the action over with as he saw the dread building up in her eyes. So, he grunted as he released the branch and used his once free hand to hold her more securely. She gasped, her voice being lost in her throat as they were suddenly freefalling from the tree but as he said in only a second they were on the ground. She had buried her face against his plastron in a way to shield her eyes from the terrible drop.

"Hey, chillax! Everything's okay!" Mikey chirped.

She slowly opened her eyes, batting her eyelashes as she turned her head and examined her surroundings while Mikey carefully sat her on the ground, letting her use him to balance herself since she hadn't stood in a long while. The feeling of security began to sink in when she felt the ground at her feet, her balance slowly returning to her as she let out a relieved sigh. But she then realized just how stiff she was, too, and she rolled her neck and heard and felt as if popped along with her back when she bent it.

"Hey, there's somebody that wants to see you. You think that you could try to talk to my brothers and friends?"

She pondered over his question for a minute, remembering what she had first met him and his brothers along with that boy. Then she smiled, and nodded slowly as her ears flattened. "Yeah… I can try…"

He smiled and took her hand before leading her towards the door. She gasped when her legs tried to give out, feeling week from the lack of use. Mikey hurried to her side, letting her use his shoulder to wrap her arm around to steady herself. After she took a few minutes to let her feet get settled, she nodded to let him know that she was alright. He let her try to walk on her own, and even though she was wobbly she assured him that she was alright enough to walk on her own. So he took her hand once again, and she let him lead her to the living room where his brothers and the two humans were waiting.

"Oh… my gosh…" April breathed, staring at her in amazement as she raised a hand to her mouth. She and Abigale seemed to lock gazes when the mutant girl turned her attention to the red-head's voice. April could instantly sense the confusion and fear within the mutant's dark eyes, but with Mikey beside her, April could tell that the girl was comforted and more relaxed now that she had a friend, and that now she was showing signs of mostly curiosity.

Mikey smiled brightly, and he motioned a hand toward his companion, who perked her ears and tilted her head in curiosity at them. "Guys, this is Abigale. Abby, these are my brothers, Leo, Raph, and Donnie, and these guys are April and Casey."

Abigale turned her eyes to meet each person he named off, recognizing all but April, and took in the personality that she could get out of them as of the moment. The blue-masked Leo seemed to be the calmest of the four brothers, more focused with his eyes never leaving the subject that was being discussed: her. He held his head high as if with some kind of pride, only moving his head at all when he nodded to her in greeting when his name had been called by Mikey. She assumed that he was the leader of the gang of teenagers. The red-banded turtle, Raph, for some reason put her on edge. His narrowed, keen lime-green eyes locked onto her and made her feel nervous. He was stocky, even a lightning-shaped chip in his plastron on his left side. He had this aggressive look about him. Next was the purple-masked turtle. He was the tallest of the turtle bunch aside from Casey, and his skin was a duller color green than the others. A tissue over his nose, his visible softer brown eyes eased her nerves after her take-in of Raph. He focused on her, but she could see his orbs roam over her, as if he taking in her physical features as well. By the way he studied her, she could tell that he was the thinker of the bunch. Moving to the two humans now, Casey was the first to catch her eye. She recognized him from when she had first met the group of turtles, when he screamed and actually scared her. He stared back at her with slightly troubled eyes, looking her up and down as if he expected her to do something. But he also appeared to have a sloppy look about him, wearing a stained, slightly torn black t-shirt and pants, his greasy-looking black hair slicked back with a black and white bandana. Then finally there was April. She was the only girl of the bunch besides herself, but looked to be the brightest with orange-red hair and blue eyes, yellow shirt with blue-jean shorts, black leggings, and black shoes. She wore a meaningful friendly smile as she waved at Abigale.

Abigale took all of this in in a minute or two, saving each of their faces in her memory before smiling timidly to them in greeting.

"Hi…" she said softly, her ears flattening as she felt her heart beat faster, feeling bashful amongst this crowd.

April was the first to respond as she approached her and Mikey. "Hi! I'm so glad that I got to meet you. Casey told me that the guys found another mutant, and that they brought you back here. Are you okay? Can you understand me okay?"

Abigale's ears perked for a second before she shrugged. "I'm… living… I guess."

"Abigale, I am so sorry that this had to happen to you…" the girl went on, and the mutant could see that there was something in the human's eyes that resembled grief. "You see, my dad was mutated, too… So I know that it must be hard…"

"I knew that we should have kept searching for mutagen canisters last night…" Leo sighed as his eyes traveled to the ground. "We could have saved you from turning into a mutant…"

Abigale blinked in confusion. "Last night? Oh, no, I wasn't mutated last night. I've… I've been like this for some weeks now…"

Leo's eyes widened at her statement and April gasped as she slapped her hands against her mouth. "Oh my gosh… Abigale, why did you never go to the police?"

She narrowed her eyes, looking down at herself and hugging herself, forcing herself to let go of Mikey, who still stood beside her and also wore a concerned face. "I don't think that the police would believe that this… body used to be human. I… I was..."

"Afraid?"

Her fur bristled and she jumped, clinging to Mikey again and turning around to the source of the new voice. But then she recognized the tall anthropomorphic brown rat. Wearing a red kimono suit and bearing a staff in one hand, his calm red-brown eyes gazing down at her. He was much taller than how she remembered, when she had first ran into him when she'd woken up in this place. But aside from his size, he didn't look like one to be any threat.

She nodded. "Yeah… I guess…"

"Oh, this is Splinter, Abby." Mikey introduced, smiling brightly at her when she settled down, her fur flattening. "He's out teacher, or father."

She studied Splinter for a minute in confusion. Father? But… he was a rat! What relations a rat possibly have with turtles? And teacher? Did he teach these turtles to be much like humans? And if so, how did he learn to become like a human himself?

"But… father?" she tried to ask how it was possible that he was their father.

He shook his head slowly, and began to explain his identity and answer her question, knowing her confusion. "Not biologically. Unlike my sons, I am originated from a human being. My real name is Hamato Yoshi. I used to be a master of martial arts as a human, and these boys were, when I was human, to my pets before we were all changed by mutagen and they began to grow into human-like nature. I have been teaching them martial arts ever since they began to show interest in it. Now, we are a family."

"Yeah," Mikey chirped. "And if ya want, you can be part of it too! I mean… at least until we can figure out how to get you back to your old self."

She then looked back up him, her eyes wide. "You mean that you guys will help me get back to normal?"

Mikey grinned, and he looked back at his sensei, her following her hopeful gaze to meet the older mutant's eyes. He offered her a soft look, nodding slowly as he began to succumb to her pleading eyes.

"Of course. Donatello," when the purple-masked turtle looked to Splinter, he continued. "You are still working on the mutagen solution, are you not?"

Donnie nodded in reply. "Yeah, for April's dad. But I'm sure that I can come up with enough retromutagen for the both of them!"

Splinter nodded. "Then it is settled. If you wish to, Abigale, you may stay here with us under our protection until Donatello can finish his retromutagen."

She suddenly felt as though she was about to cry. She couldn't remember the last time that she was given the choice to be provided protection against the world. Oh yeah, it was before she was mutated, when she was still with her parents. When she had been with her mother and father, she had felt so safe and secure, with no bad thought in the world. But now that she looked at this bunch of people, saw their concerned faces, and looked to Mikey and saw his hopeful smile, she couldn't help but nod in agreement, feeling her heart warm at the thought that they actually cared, that she would be safe with them.

"Yes! I mean… yes. That… that would be nice… Thank you…" she breathed quietly, her ears flattening as her eyes began to tear up in happiness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Suffering Hearts**

The house used to be so light, full of energy and happiness. There was always a smiling face in the residence, usually the woman of the house. And it was such a beautiful house too, two stories tall and completely white with tan rimmed windows and sliding glass doors that led to a large outdoor porch and pool. It was everything that the woman of the house thought that her daughter would have wanted when coming to the largest city in the United States. It cost a fortune, but it was well worth it to see her daughter come home to something that she could call hers. Inside the house seemed even more incredible. Two guest bedrooms and one bathroom that included a shower and a bathtub each on every floor, the master on the second floor where the mother could be near her daughter. In the living room the walls were cream-colored, and antique paintings were placed on each wall. Shelves of pictures and antiques lined the walls, a sixty-inch Samsung TV. Two leather sofas sat facing each other in the living room with a low, silver and glass coffee table in the middle with a green-silver swirling vase of decorative pink flowers, a grey rug under it all. Bean bags sat in front of the TV where a gaming system was installed. The kitchen included your average but unusually clean oven and refrigerator, silver, long-necked fountain sinks, and was surrounded by white-tiled walls and the counters were marbled black and grey speckled, the cabinets filled with dining room table, cooking utensils, canned food items, and more. It was the place where the mother and daughter were supposed to have fun cooking together, getting messy with trying to come up with new recipes and having their last years of the daughter living with her before she would have to go off to college. There was a sliding door in the kitchen that led outside to the pool, where the daughter was supposed to spend her summers having fun with her soon-to be new friends when they got out of school.

But ever since a few weeks ago, the house was darker and even lonelier than it should have been. Most of the lights were turned off, only lamps and candles having been lit, making it look and feel like a haunted house. When the divorced husband hurried to New York to accompany his ex-wife in the search of their daughter, the police had informed them that they would do everything that they could, and that the frightened parents would have to wait. But that had been weeks ago, and still no sign of their precious Abigale. How could have the girl had gone so suddenly? Had she been kidnapped by some psycho? The police surely would have found her by now… Did she run away for some reason? If so, why? What reasons did she have of running away? The police had talked to everybody, even the boyfriend who lived in her hometown, who had been the last one to speak to her. But he had said that they had spoken on the phone, but that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

In the lonely house, a brown-haired depressed and fatigued man in his sleeping robes sat at the dining room table, staring at paperwork from his part-time job that he'd taken since he got to New York. He knew that he had to have something to keep him occupied while he was in New York, having abandoned his job at home to come here and await their daughter's arrival home.

Ever since he came to New York City, Christopher and his ex-wife, Martha, hadn't spoken much at all due to the grief of the loss of their only child. He had never felt such guilt in his life. If he'd only tried to stay with Martha for a while longer, to try to adapt to her way of seeing things, to give it more time, their daughter would have still been with them, and not alone and lost out on the streets somewhere. Or worst… she might have been… Christopher couldn't stand the thought of losing his baby girl. It was hard enough to have to let her go to New York, where he couldn't protect her. But to know that she was somewhere in New York, knowing nothing about where she was, or where to go, he felt so helpless and alone. This… This was all his fault, he told himself again and again, only feeling his despair grow within him.

He sighed as he rubbed his throbbing temples, sitting back in his chair at the dining room table with the only light accompanying him a bright lamp on the opposite end of the table. He turned his gaze towards the ticking clock that hung on the wall, seeing that it was already 10:34 pm. He blinked his tired eyes and pulled up his sleeve to at his watch, cringing when he realized just how sore his wrist was from writing documents. He took a deep breath as he rolled his fist, trying to wear out the soreness. He wasn't used to all of this writing… He should be working in construction, using his whole body to operate machinery and equipment. Using just one part of his body was strange, but he put up with it, for he knew that he would have to until they found their daughter.

_My poor Abby-girl… _he thought sadly, taking out his wallet and slipping out a picture of his blonde-haired little girl, who in the picture was smiling awkwardly for her school's annual photos. He smiled lovingly, his eyes glossing over as he looked at the beautiful picture of his baby girl, his thumb brushing against the surface of the picture. Oh how he missed her so… What he would have done to keep her with him… He would have gone out to look for her himself, but he didn't know New York. He didn't know his way around enough to go out and look for her without getting lost himself. He… had no choice but to leave it to the police. But where they even doing their jobs? Day in and day out, Christopher awaited a call from them, begging for them to call, to tell him and Martha they had found Abigale. But they never did… Feeling his anger boil up, he began to question the polices' efforts to look for their daughter, and he wondered if they even cared at all.

"Damn it…" he murmured with a frown, shoving his paperwork away. Maybe he could go check on the polices' search, go to the station and ask about their progress. At least it would give him some peace of mind that they were still working on the case, if they told him their progress. The wooden legs of the chair squealing against the tile floor, he pushed the chair back and stood to his feet. He walked through the living room and as quietly as he could upstairs, on his way to the master bedroom. Once there, he started his way towards his side of the bed, but then he paused. Martha was sitting up in bed, the lamp lit dimly on her side of the bed. He could see that her makeup had been washed off, and that her eyes were reddened from old tears. Her blonde hair was in a messy clip with pieces of hair dangling in her face. Hunched over, a piece of paper was in her hands.

"Martha?" he called out to her in a hushed voice. He wondered if she even wanted to talk to him at all. Ever since Abigale's disappearance, the two hadn't spoken properly in a long time, but he knew that all she was doing was taking her time, trying to cope and grieve. He wouldn't blame her. He didn't feel like talking about the situation himself.

She turned her tearful gaze to him and then began to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. Sniffling, she blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision before looking at her ex-husband. "Huh?" she mumbled, and then she cleared her choked up throat. "What is it?"

He showed a concerned expression, his brows raising. "Are you alright?"

She turned her eyes to look at the paper in her hands, and she smiled unsurely. "It's... It's a picture of Abby…"

Christopher's eyes closed to half-lidded, his brow furrowing in a sympathetic, but also hurt expression, his heart hurting despite his efforts to try to remain as calm as he could. "Hmm…"

"I still can't believe that she's gone…" Martha breathed shakily, attempting to brush a piece of hair out of her face but failing when she was too tired to care anymore.

He was silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say next. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that they would find Abigale, and that their daughter was alright. But he couldn't tell her that… He didn't want to make a promise that he couldn't keep, especially since it was their daughter that they were talking about. But the words he was looking for wouldn't come to him, so he just sighed, and he walked over to the dresser on his side of the bed.

The noise caught Martha's and she turned her gaze to see that he was digging through his dresser, pulling out a t-shirt and pants. She then frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the police station," he replied softly, but she caught a note of irritation in his voice that she couldn't tell was directed to her or something else. "I'm going to see what progress they've made."

She then frowned, and she clenched the picture in her hand. "I don't see any point in it…" she said through her teeth. "She's… she's probably… dead, anyway…"

His muscles locked in place as he was pulling out a pair of socks, dropping them onto the floor while his eyes widening and his heart jolting as he snapped his head around to glare at her in disbelief. "What did you just say?" he asked stiffly, his fists clenched as he tried to reply her words in his mind.

She shook her head quickly, her hair starting to already fall out of place. "N-Nothing…"

He took in a sharp breath and turned to her, marching over to the side of the bed and slamming his hands onto the comforter. "No! No, d-don't you ever, EVER say that! She is NOT dead!"

She then showed her deadly gaze to him, glaring daggers at him with her eyes streaming tears. "How do you know?! How do you know that, Christopher? She could be out there alive, but she's probably starving by now! She alone, cold, and it's very likely that she's with some psycho maniac that's holding her! On the other hand, she could be dead! And its all YOUR FAULT!"

He gritted his teeth, his eyes stinging as he faltered dreadfully. "I… I… MY fault?!"

"If you hadn't had ever filed for that damn divorce, she would had still been with us, we would have still been together, still have been safe and happy. But you ruined everything, Christopher!" she screamed.

"I did what I thought was best for us!" he retorted, his forehead wrinkling up as he glared at her. "You wanted to start traveling, so I thought that it was best for her to stay with you since you made more money. But hell, you had to come to NEW YORK CITY! The most populated city in AMERICA! Oh perfect plan, Martha, such a perfect idea to bring her here."

"I wanted her to live the life that I didn't have the option of having when I was a little girl!" Martha snapped, standing up now and facing him. "You were always off on construction duty while she stayed home, texting her boyfriend and having nothing better to do than sit and watch TV. I wanted her to get out and see things that I never got to see, and see them for myself! But you were always so caught up in your damn work that you never saw how lonely she was!"

"Lonely?" Christopher snorted as he threw his hands out with his palms up. "She had a BOYFRIEND, Martha! She had friends in school, she had group studies almost every weekend! How would you call that lonely?!"

"She didn't have her father!" Martha answered. "You were never there…"

He then let his expression soften, his eyes widening in realization. That was why Abigale didn't object to leaving so suddenly when Martha had announced that she had bought the plane tickets. He had been blind-sighted by the announcement, but Abigale had been more than happy to leave, and he had been actually heart-broken to not have much time to talk to her. Martha had been so excited about getting to leave, that she never thought about how Christopher felt. Hell, she was divorced. What reasons did she ever have of caring? She was free to do her business and go where she pleased. Honestly, he didn't care where she went. He was more worried about his daughter, and her wellbeing.

"She waited for you day in and day out, but you always came home so late that she was already asleep. Even on days that you came home before her you were already asleep! She started going out with her boyfriend more often, but she wanted to be with you more. You and your stupid construction… You were never her father after you got that job!"

"ALRIGHT!" he suddenly bellowed, causing her eyes widen and her body to lean back in surprise and actually fear. His face as red as a Coca-Cola can, she'd never seen him this angry before. "I get it. I was never home and I never spent family time with you and Abigale." His voice became wavered and he gripped his hair, collapsing onto the bed and bending over his knees, and when he spoke again his voice was muffled. "I just… I didn't… Oh God… My little Abby…"

Martha stared at him for a good long while with a stunned face and her hands frozen at her sides, shocked by his outburst. The two had had come arguments before, but they had never escalated to him shouting at her. Suddenly she felt guilty and regretted her words and previous thoughts. She clenched her eyes shut, feeling hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Putting a hand to her mouth, she desperately tried to prevent herself from letting out a pitiful sob. Now that her words caught up with her mind and she processed them, her chest tightened and she began to choke up as she collapsed back onto the bed, her legs having become weak from her emotions.

He on the other hand didn't think to keep himself from breaking down. A choked, gargling sound escaped his mouth as mucus drained from his congested system into his throat. He coughed, gritting his teeth as his heart burned in despair and desperation. This was why he avoided arguments with her. He could never handle it. She was stronger spirited, and he broke down too easily. Maybe that was why he had married her from begin with, because she was a much stronger person, and that he thought that maybe she would have rubbed off on him. But he guessed that it never happened, and he was still the weaker of the two.

The woman let her watering, reddening eyes wander slowly to look at him. His shoulders shook violently as he broke down into tears, and she mentally scolded herself for her words. She knew that he had only meant well for the family to the begin with, but she had to go and ruin what hopes he had of finding their daughter by saying the worst thing she could possibly say. A sob escaped her and she buried her face in her hands, feeling her sorrow swallow her up.

"Abby…" she wept pitifully as she looked down at her now tear-damped photo of her daughter. "Please come home…"

**I can imagine that during the time of Abigale's absence, her parents would be suffering as they worry deeply for the safety of their child, and as a divorced couple, they would probably have arguments and say things that they didn't mean. I decided to show a little realism within with maybe the reasons why Abigale and Martha would have come to New York in the first place. Martha only wanted their daughter to live a fun and care-free life when her husband was more realistic but wanted the best for his daughter anyway. I got a review a while back before I changed this story, when it was called **_**Interesting**_**, and it said something about me not mentioning anything much about Abigale's parents' views, or if anybody was looking for her. So I thought it would be slightly fitting to show everything from her parents' point of view, and how they felt about the situation. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hugs Fix Everything**

_The Next Day, 3:28 pm…_

"You mean she's been asleep all day?" Donnie asked, looking down at the squirrel mutant as she lay curled up on the seat across from the TV, a box of leftover pizza on the floor beside her. She had used a bunch of pillows to cushion herself on the seat, and as she slept her shoulders rose up and down as she took in air.

With her body being part squirrel now, her breathing was a faster rate since she now had a higher metabolism. Her rapid heartbeat pumped blood through her body faster, using up nutrients and forcing her to eat more food. But ever since yesterday afternoon, she had been asleep curled up on the couch, only waking up to use the bathroom or eat a snack.

Mikey nodded. "Yeah, dude. She's been out like a light. I think this is the best sleep she's gotten in a while."

"Probably because it's warmer and a better setting. They say people sleep better with sound in the background." Donnie turned his gaze to look at the TV, noting that the news was on again since Leo wasn't watching _Space Heroes_ for the time being.

Mikey stared at Abigale for a minute, a thoughtful expression on his face before he looked up at his older, taller brother. "Hey, do you think that she'd hibernate?"

Donnie wore a puzzled expression, but then he hummed in thought as the idea suddenly occurred to him. He then shook his head. "Eh… no. Squirrels don't tend to hibernate. They have too high of a metabolism and would run off their fat reserves too quickly."

"Um…" Mikey tried to process what his brother just said. Metabolism? Fat reserves? But then he shrugged when he gave up. "Oh."

Abigale hasn't spoken much at all since she'd been offered the choice to stay. She was still trying to get over the fact that she was a mutant rodent that had been living alone in an abandoned apartment for weeks, having been rescued by a group of mutant turtles and a strange boy, had been brought back to their lair, and was now being accepted. She wasn't too sure about how long she planned to stay though. She didn't know her way around New York, also, and that thought only urged her to stick to the idea of staying underground. Nobody came down here anyway, she thought, and it would probably be the best place she could stay at all until… What was his name? Donnie? Yeah, until Donnie came up with his… his… retro-mutagen? Yes. All she would have to do is stay here until he came up with the formula and then turn her back into her human self. That easy. Just… wait…

But how long would that take? The way he described it, it would probably take a while for it to be finished. Days? Weeks? How about months? That would be just more time to make her parents believe that she was gone forever. They HAD to be still looking for her, they had to be. But her chest tightened still, and she swallowed a knot that had formed in her throat.

When the footsteps of the turtles faded, she opened her eyes and watched as they disappeared into the dojo. In the dojo, she could hear the sound of metal clashing and shouting, voices barking back and forth to each other in a way that sounded like a fight. But she wasn't interested in fighting. Never had been. Fighting seemed like a… violent thing, and she didn't like violence. She believed in a calmer approach to things, such as talking and solving the problem like well-behaved adults. Fighting was immature unless it was merely defending yourself, but even she didn't even know how to defend herself in a fight. Yes, she'd seen some shows on TV such as boxing or wrestling, but the subject never interested her. She was more likely to watch national geographic channels and such. But even now she felt sickened to think about those nature documents, knowing that she had become part of one herself with this squirrel body.

She sighed, fixing up her pillows and resting her chin on the stacked pile, letting her bored eyes wander around the room. It was a very large room with a high ceiling, but had a homey touch with pinball machines, a TV, a fighting dummy, and even a tire swing over what she guessed they called their pool. The tire swing caught her attention, and her ears perked up as she blinked curiously at it. Back at her old town, she used to have a tire swing from when she was littler, before she was a teenager. It brought back some old memories of her and her father when he had first built the swing, or actually just roped it over a branch and tied it up for her. He pushed her in it and they had a grand time, and she could still remember the smile he used to wear, back before her parents had divorced.

She had almost forgotten what it was like to sit in a tire swing, and she, after checking to see if anybody was around, then crawled off onto the floor. Then she stood back up, stretching herself before creeping over to the pool. She crouched down, looking down into the water at her reflection. Her reflection stared right back at her, causing her to frown at herself in disgust. But then she shook her head, and looked to the swing. She wanted to get in it, but she didn't want to get wet with this fur. She'd accidently been caught in the rain before in this body, and the water in her fur had felt so heavy and cold and soggy, she just simply hated it.

But she wouldn't be able to get to the swing without getting wet. Unless… she thought for a moment, looking down at her back legs. Squirrels were known to jump for good lengths from branch to branch in trees. Maybe… She looked to the swing, and she narrowed her eyes. She backed up a few steps, her tail coiled in the air as she crouched. As much as she hated to think about being mutated, she knew that she had to accept it for the time being, and deal with it until Donnie could change her back to her normal self. So, with that in mind, she huffed and suddenly sprinted. On all fours, she raced forward until she got to the edge of the pool. Using her back legs, she leapt into the air like a spring and went soaring through the air for a mere second before her hands made contact with the rubber surface of the black tire. She gasped when it began to swing, and once her hind feet made touchdown she latched onto the chains that held the tire up, and she curled her tail around herself instinctively. The tire swung for a minute or two, and when it finally came to a slow stop, she looked about her and breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't get wet.

She relaxed as she got settled on the swing, letting her legs dangle through the center of the tire and her hands gripping the chains, her tail swaying under her as she moved her body to move the swing. She couldn't help but smile at the silly, childish feeling that overcame her, and she giggled quietly to herself as she closed her eyes and smiled widely in enjoyment.

"Wheee!" she giggled as the tire spun in circles, leaning back but being careful not to fall backwards. Her heart felt a bit at ease with the happier emotions temporarily overwhelming her previously negative thoughts. It felt nice to smile, to giggle and have a nice time like she used to. She sighed in content, leaning her cheeks against the chain and gazing down at her knees. She then grew interested in the fur, and she used her fingers to carefully brush her fur. It… felt almost like she was petting a dog that had soft hair. Before, she was grossed out about being covered in this fur, being an animal. But as she grew more interested and even grabbed up her tail and was fingering the fur and running her fingers through the fluffiness, she couldn't contain her smile as she found it amusing, much like a baby when it first discovers its toes.

Despite the boys' loud shouting and taunting each other, Splinter overheard a small but clear female voice in the living room. Letting the turtles carry out their training, he calmly walked with his hands behind his back to the doorway leading to the living room. Not proceeding any further, he observed as Abigale was sitting in the tire swing and exploring herself. He assumed that she had been too traumatized to have a positive look at herself, and was now just beginning to see how interesting her body was to her. He knew that she wouldn't be fully happy until she was returned to normal, but he was relieved to know that she was seeing light in this darker time for herself, and was willing to wait out the time it took to change her back to normal. He felt sympathy for her. His sons couldn't understand what it was like to once be human, but turned into a creature like he was. He knew what it felt like to be disgusted by what he had become, and he knew what she felt now. If his sons as children hadn't turned to him in need of a parent, he wasn't sure if he'd ever gotten over his mutation. He would have been living down here still, but in a depressed and horrible state.

_Poor girl… _he thought. _I do hope that Donatello comes up with that retro-mutagen soon. I know she's missing her family._

Not wanting to bother her, he sighed and returned to watching his sons train, scolding them whenever things got out of hand or giving tidbits of advice when they were unsure about something. Abigale remained in the tire swing, but now lying in it with her feet in the air, her tail draped over her, and her ears flattened as the moving tire lulled her to sleep once again.

About two hours later April and Casey were once again visiting the turtles like they usually did after school. As they were entering the lair, April spotted the mutant girl laying in the swing, and she smiled in relief to know that she was settling well in the lair.

"Hey, Abigale," April greeted, causing the mutant to wake with a jerk and blink rapidly. "Oh! Sorry… I didn't know you were asleep."

Abigale yawned, rubbing her eyes with a hand as she mumbled. "It's okay…"

"Oh, hey, um… I got the feeling that you wouldn't want to eat just pizza here, so... I brought you something, Abby." April reached into her backpack and began to fiddle around looking for something. Curious with her ears perked, Abigale sat up in the swing and, ever so carefully, leapt over the water and onto the concrete floor and approached the red-head. April smiled when she found what she was searching for and pulled out a clear box.

"Cookies?" Abigale inquired, her nose twitching as she took in the wonderful scent of the oatmeal and raisin treats, and April happily handed the box to her. She felt her heart flutter a little, finding how she had almost forgotten about one of her favorite snacks ever, and also how April actually thought about her while she had been gone. It brought a little smile to her face.

"Yup! I wasn't sure what to get, since I didn't know what you liked. So I just bought what they had." April took note as Abigale took out a cookie and began to munch on it right away, and she smiled. "But I can see that you like them anyway."

Abigale smiled shyly and nodded, swallowed before she watched tall, dark, and messy Casey walk over to the seat in front of the TV and then start flipping through the channels. Abigale stared after him for a bit, wondering why he didn't speak to her much. She hadn't really gotten to know him really well, and although she would have been more than willing to make a new friend, he just didn't seem like the type she wanted to hang out with. Well… Then again, she was temporarily living in the sewers with mutant turtles and a giant rat. She really didn't have a say in the matter, being a mutant herself.

"Is he… always like that?" she asked quietly, her ears folding back a little. "Avoiding people, I mean…"

April turned her attention to Casey for a moment, frowned in thought, and then crossed her arms while shaking her head. "Well, not really. You see he has this phobia and… well, no offence to you, but he's afraid of rats." She then realized just how blunt that sounded and she quickly worked to rephrase as to not make her new friend feel bad, which she was starting to show signs of as her tail drooped slightly and her eyes began to wander. "I mean, you're a mutated rodent and all and just resemble one! It's nothing personal, he just needs to accept that there's a new mutant among us!"

Abigale's eyes closed a little half-lidded, her ears drooping as she slumped her shoulders. "Yeah… A new mutant…"

April caught the soft, distressed tone in the mutant's voice, and she regretted her words. She didn't really mean anything by what she had said, she just… The words just came out. But who could blame her? Ever since she had even met the ninja turtles she had been seeing mutants from left to right, and it was almost normal to hear about missions involving mutant people or animals. Knowing that the turtles hadn't been mutated from people, it had been easy to talk to them and say such blunt comments without the worry of really offending them. But now she reminded herself that she'd have to be careful about what she should say, in worry of hurting Abigale's feelings about something.

But before April could utter a word of apology, Abigale had taken another cookie, shoved it into her mouth, sat the container on the back of the couch, and then returned to the swing, hopping into it over the water and curling up on the hole in the tire. April felt guilt creeping up on her, but she knew better than to bother the mutant any further, so she sighed and pushed her backpack toward the couch and then continued on her way towards the dojo, where the sounds of the boys shouting during their daily training could be heard.

In the dojo, Mikey was fighting Donnie this time, Donnie swinging his Bo staff and Mikey dodging a few blows before throwing the chain of his nunchakus and lassoing Donnie's staff, attempting to yank it from his hands. But Donnie, planting his feet in a firm stance, gripped his staff and spun it, so that when Mikey tried to keep a hold on his weapons, his hands were twisted by the chain spinning from the staff.

"Ah!" Mikey yelped sharply when the chain twisted back and pinched his hand in the process of him trying to hold onto the handles of his nunchakus. The match was then over as Splinter nodded in approval to Donatello, who was smiling in victory.

"Excellent, Donatello. Using your opponent's weapon against themselves is an effective way to gaining advantage in combat." Then he turned his gaze to Michelangelo, who was examining the reddening mark appearing on his hand, almost resembling that of a single link of the chain of his nunchaku. "This also aids in the reminder that you should always be able to counter whatever attempts your opponent may try to use to disorient you, or if not you must at least be ready for it. Make sure you learn from your mistakes, my sons. That concludes your lesson for today. You are dismissed."

At their dismissal the other three brothers stood to leave, and Mikey nodded while rubbing his hand as he picked up his weapons off the ground. "Hai, Sensei…"

Putting his nunchakus back in his belt, Mikey followed his older brothers out of the dojo. Donnie greeted April on the way out, sharing some small talk before they followed Leo and Raph into the living room, and gathering at the TV while Raph and Casey said their hello and bumped fists. Leo sat on the floor with his shell against the front of the couch, Raph on the couch next to Casey, April on the other side of Leo, and Donnie next to April on the opposite side from his brothers. Mikey didn't bother with settling down just quite yet. He wanted to go check out his hand in better light, see if he was actually bleeding. The pain had faded into a more stinging feeling, like a burn almost, but the area around it was starting to swell, and he wanted to make sure it was all well. Who knows, it might ruin his ability to read comic books! He couldn't risk that!

So, rubbing the swollen spot on his hand, he continued on to the bathroom to see if maybe there was some ointment to soothe the sting. When he got to the bathroom, he didn't really seen anything related to treating his hand, but he settled with putting a wet rag on it for a few minutes to cool the area off before rinsing his hand in cold water and then leaving to join his brothers, April, and Casey at the TV. Maybe he'd even get some popcorn, as he was feeling a little snackish.

"And I still don't understand why they call it pi. Why pi? Pie is what you eat, isn't it? Why do they have to name something in math after what you eat? It just doesn't make sense." Casey was complaining about his day at school, his math class in particular. "And imaginary numbers. Seriously?! What's next, unicorns and goblins in the next lesson? What, are we gonna use imaginary numbers when writing checks or something?"

"Hey, you're lucky that she was in a good mood, or else you would have gotten homework over it." April smirked as she checked her phone for any new messages, then putting it away when she saw that there was nothing new.

Casey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Still."

Donnie then joined the conversation. "I don't get what's so hard about it using imaginary numbers and pi. Its pretty easy to me."

"Well, not all of us are big green, brainiacs like you!" Casey snorted, poking the tall mutant turtle in the plastron and causing the purple clad turtle to wear an unamused frown.

As Mikey entered the living room and overheard the conversation, he grinned and was about to chime in with his own opinion, but he then paused and looked around in search for a certain female mutant. She wasn't on the couch anymore, and she hadn't been in the bathroom when he went. She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Then he looked at the tire swing, and noted that it was still moving without anybody sitting in it, like it had been pushed. He studied the way it swung, the direction it moved. He then followed the direction and saw that it led toward the dojo.

_How did… Did she? _He blinked in confusion, but went along and walked towards the dojo once again. Surely she couldn't have passed them on their way out? Or maybe he was too distracted by his hand to really notice her leaving the room. Either way, he just wanted to see where she was and if she was okay. After all, she'd been on the couch practically all night and today, maybe there was something wrong with her. She could have been sick or hurt. The thought only worrying him further, he entered the dojo and looked around, seeing that Splinter had gone to meditate in his own room in the dojo, closed off by a thin wall. He could smell the candles that his sensei had lit for relaxation, and he took a breath of it to soothe his mind before glancing around and then looking at the tree. Perhaps she had gotten herself up there again.

He walked to the base of the tree and paused at the bottom, tilting his head up to look through the branches. "Abby? Abby, are you up there?"

A piece of bark fell from a branch at his feet and he could hear the sound of fur brushing the rough surface of the wood. His question answered, he sighed softly to himself in relief. When he spotted her eyes looking down at him, he motioned toward her with a hand. "Can I come up?"

She was still for a moment, thinking the question over for a little bit before she nodded. At her answer, he took a step back and then ran a few steps up the tree, grabbed a branch, swung himself up and pulled his weight onto the large branch that she had been resting on, the same spot she had sat when she had been stuck up in the tree when she first got here.

"What are you doing up here? I was starting to worry 'bout ya." he asked with a friendly and amused smile, folding up a knee and resting an elbow on it while he leaned back so that his shell was pressed against the tree.

She was curled up against the trunk of the tree, her tail pulled around her as she remained quiet for a moment, her eyes not focused on anything. He just then realized how sad she looked.

"Abby? Are you okay?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't agitating her but at the same time wanting an answer. Was she sick? He had grown attached to her, grown to be her friend, he thought. Surely she would have informed him that she wasn't feeling well?

The mutant squirrel let out a soft, almost inaudible breath as she heard his concerned voice. "I'm fine…"

He wasn't convinced, as he had caught the hurt tone in her voice. He could see that she was upset, and he wanted to help her. But how could he help her if she didn't tell him what was wrong? So he pressed further. "Abby… Please don't tell me that you're fine when you're not. Please tell me what's wrong!"

Having only seen him with his bubbly personality and comforting smile, she was taken aback at the small hint of desperation in his voice and when his smile disappeared from his face. She felt vulnerable, and she knew that he was set on trying to solve this problem. But how could he know what it was like to have a life before this? That once to be human and now an ugly mutant far away from home? That she couldn't just go to her parents and tell them all that had happened over the past few weeks? He had been a mere little turtle before his mutation, without much of a life besides being with his brothers. He didn't know how she felt, not personally. After what April had commented about her earlier about her resembling a rat, being mutated into an anthropomorphic squirrel, her heart had felt like it had broken all over again. She wasn't mad at April, no. She was just so upset that people were still afraid of her, like Casey. Casey had been afraid of her because she resembled one of his phobias, rats. She couldn't blame him either. If she saw herself in this form again for the first time, she would have been frightened as well. She wasn't a human anymore, she was a creature of sci-fi comic books and movies! She wanted to be her normal self again, she wanted to go home, but most of all she wanted to be with her mom and dad. She missed her family, she missed her old life.

Mikey watched as she seemed to fight with her emotions, and then he saw tears pricking at the corners of Abigale's dark eyes. She hugged herself tightly, letting out a sob.

"I just wanna go home…" she whimpered pitifully, her ears flattening as she buried her face in her arms and knees, beginning to cry further.

The orange clad turtle felt unsure what to do at that moment. He felt the need to comfort her, but he wasn't certain whether she was fine with him touching and all, and he didn't want to agitate her further. He sat there, feeling awkward. Should he pat her on the shoulder? Should he say something? If so, what should he say? He was lost for words. Feeling ashamed of herself for crying in front of him and looking like a baby, she quickly tried to wipe her eyes and calm herself. Tears continued to fall, though, and she used her tail to try to dry her face.

"Need a hug?"

She sniffled and turned her attention to Mikey, who was smiling awkwardly at her with his bright but concerned blue eyes. When he realized just how random his question was, he then added, "I mean… Hugs always help me when I'm upset… So…"

She stared at him for a minute, contemplating his offer for a moment. To tell the truth, a hug would probably have done her some good, just to feel the contact. After reassuring herself, she nodded slowly, and he scooted closer to her so that his side almost touched her. Then, he reached out his arms and she leaned toward him, letting him wrapped his arms around her furry body while she curled up close to him. At first the hug was odd and Abigale felt uneasy for a minute. But, then the feeling of having someone just having contact with her began to soothe her troubled mind and she closed her eyes, her ears pinned back as she relaxed against his touch.

"Better?" he asked, feeling the fur on the top of her head brush his chin.

She nodded, feeling his warm hands resting on her shoulders. "I think so. Thank you…" She then looked down at one of his hands, and then blinked. "Mikey, what's that?"

He then remembered the swollen spot on his hand from the training from earlier and smiled sheepishly. "Ah, just a little something from training. It's… It's normal!"

She took his hand and examined it, brushing her nimble fingers over the little bump on his hand, seeing that it was reddened and even starting to turn a little purple. He watched her eyes as they stared down at his green skin, feeling her fur as she held his wrist. He jerked when she gently put a little pressure on the bruise with her thumb, and then rubbed it distractingly before she let go of his hand. He smiled awkwardly and cleared his throat before speaking to her again.

"So hey- um… Do you wanna eat something? The guys are watching TV and… I thought that maybe you'd wanna join us instead of… you know, sitting up here all alone." He watched as a small smile replaced her tearful face, and she began wiping her eyes of sticky tears with her hands.

"Um…" she finished wiping her eyes. "Yes, yeah, that would be nice."

"Great! I'll get the popcorn- Oh wait! I wanted to ask you. How did you get past us without anybody noticing?" Mikey then paused, giving her a curious expression.

She tilted her head. "Huh?"

He smiled in amusement. "Well, I didn't see you come into the dojo, and I thought I heard you and April talking earlier. I just never saw…" He then fell silent in thought, the ridges of his mask furrowing for a moment before he suddenly grinned like a little boy who just got a puppy. "Maybe you're a ninja like us!"

She then smiled sheepishly. "Oh no… I don't fight."

"Well, you are pretty silent! And as Leo once said, 'Ninjas must be silent, but deadly'!" he held up a finger as he quoted one of Leo's sayings, deepening his voice to imitate his older brother's slightly deeper voice. He then wore a puzzled expression, and he put a finger to his chin. "Or was it put in a different way?" Abigale let out a giggle and he chuckled in reply, as he started to make his way down the tree.

"Oh, do you need help coming down?" he asked, almost forgetting the last time when he had to help her come down from the tree.

She waited for a moment to think over his offer. She leaned forward and looked down at the ground, and then found that this time now that she had gotten herself up the tree, it wasn't as bad looking down from this height. She looked to might and shook her head hesitantly.

"I… I think I'll try to get down myself, Mikey." When he smiled and proceeded to slide down, she then called out again. "But… can you stand at the bottom, though? I mean… In case I fall?"

He smiled and nodded to her when his feet made contact with the ground. "Of course! C'mon!"

She smiled in affection at his promise, and then she drew in a deep breath before turning around and lowering her legs, feeling her claws scratch against the tree's bark. She then gripped the bark with her hands, her claws clinging to the trunk as she slowly, but surely, began to shakily lower herself down the trunk and close to the ground. When Mikey reached up and put his hands at her sides to reassure her that he was still there, she let her legs hang and make contact with the ground before letting go with her hands.

"Nice job, you did it!" he congratulated, giving her a friendly, warm hug in happiness before he took her hand and pulled her to his side as he already fast-walked towards the living room. "Now let's go get some popcorn! I think we're gonna watch a horror movie!"


End file.
